The possibility of using an embryo test as a means of determining the reaction of wheat varieties to loose smut (Ustilago tritici (Pers.) Rostr.) has been investigated. Fifty-seven varieties were inoculated with two physiologic races by the partial vacuum method and the embryos, seedlings, and adult plants were examined for infection. Most of the varieties were fully susceptible to one or both races, and only ten showed real resistance to any one race. Braun R and Molinel proved almost immune to infection. The resistance in other varieties which showed no infection in the field was expressed as embryo susceptibility, i.e. the embryo became infected in much the same way as in field-susceptible varieties. In the latter varieties infection passes from the embryo into the growing point of the young seedling. In the embryo-susceptible field-resistant varieties, infection does not pass from the scutellum and the growing point is therefore uninfected. The reaction of most of the varieties tested was straightforward resistance or susceptibility, but in a few varieties a small proportion of the grains reacted differently from the majority. These reactions are discussed.
