Powdery Mildew Resistance of the Lithuanian Winter Wheat Breeding Material

At the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture, during 2004-2006, resistance to powdery mildew of approximately 1,500 winter wheat lines was assessed in check and competitive trial nurseries. Our experimental evidence showed that there were no genotypes with effective resistance singlegenes among the lines tested. Effective powdery mildew resistance from start to end of vegetation season depended on the quantitative resistance level. The most resistant lines were evaluated with a score of 2 and area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) values ranging between 1.0-5.4. The most susceptible genotypes from the collection nurseries had score 8-9 and AUDPC values ranging between 1350-2220. The correlations between maximal disease severity and AUDPC values were strong (r = 0.79-0.92). Genotypes with AUDPC values up to 10 represented 93 lines or 7% in the check trial nursery and 22 lines or 9% in the competitive trial nursery. Lines evaluated with a score 4-5 and AUDPC value 100-300 dominated in 2004. In the next year the dominant genotypes had resistance scores 3-4 and AUDPC value 50-200. The highest powdery mildew resistance (score 2 and AUDPC value 1.0) was identified for the lines Maverich/Victo, Flair/Lut.9392, Strumok/Lut.9321, Zentos/Lut.97-6, Strumok/Lut.9313, Dirigent/Cortez in 2006.