Evaluation of spring barley genotypes with different susceptibility to Fusarium head blight using molecular markers

One of cereal diseases that has gained a greater importance for growers, processing industry as well as for breeders in many regions of the world is Fusarium head blight (FHB) caused by fungi of the Fusarium genus. The objectives of this study were to test diversity among spring barley breeding lines exhibiting various sensitivity to FHB and to find RAPD markers and AFLP markers that will distinguish between susceptible and resistant and/or moderately resistant genotypes. A test of a set of spring barley genotypes artificially infected by fusaria in field trials was carried out. Based on the results from field and laboratory evaluation and deoxynivalenol (DON) content assessment, barley genotypes with different responses to FHB were selected. The genotypes were hybridized and doubled haploid (DH) lines were derived in F1 generation using the in vitro androgenesis method. Initial parental components and derived DH lines were tested for FHB infection and DON content. A set of parental genotypes of spring barley was tested with 80 RAPD markers. A RAPD marker (H30) was detected which enabled to distinguish between very susceptible parental genotypes and other resistant or moderately resistant spring barley genotypes based on the fragment of about 1300 bp. This specific product was screened in 23 DH lines derived from crosses of parental genotypes of spring barley and detected in 10 DH lines. During the study, some DH lines were selected that exhibited improved resistance to Fusarium infection. A low infection level and low DON content was found in the line DH 4/2 derived from CI 4196 × Foster. The AFLP technique was used to analyse parental genotypes of spring barley. The detected markers can be further evaluated and employed to select breeding materials.