Specificity of prehaustorial resistance to Puccinia hordei and to two inappropriate rust fungi in barley

To elucidate the specificity of prehaustorial resistance to inappropriate rust fungi, we studied two populations of recombinant inbred lines of barley that segregated for partial resistance (PR) to Puccinia hordei and for the resistance to the inappropriate rust species P. recondita f. sp. tritici and P. hordei-murini. PR to P. hordei is prehaustorial and nonhypersensitive, and its level can be assessed accurately by measuring the latent period of the fungus. The resistance to the inappropriate rust species is a combination of prehaustorial (nonhypersensitive) and posthaustorial (hypersensitive) mechanisms. The amount of nonhypersensitive, early abortion of P. recondita f. sp. tritici and P. hordei-murini sporelings reflects the degree of prehaustorial defense to the two inappropriate rust species. AII lines showing a long latent period of P. hordei also had a relatively high level of early abortion of the growth of P. recondita f. sp. tritici and P. hordei-murini. This indicates that genes for PR to P. hordei are also effective against these two inappropriate rust species. The reverse was not necessarily true; some lines showing a high level of early abortion of P. recondita f. sp. tritici and P. hordei-murini had a low level of PR to P. hordei. Moreover, lines with a similar level of prehaustorial resistance to P. recondita f. sp. tritici could differ considerably in their prehaustorial resistance to P. hordei-murini. This indicates that genes for prehaustorial resistance may exhibit rust species specificity.