An-Najah Staff

Barley leaf rust resistance gene Rph7, derived from barley accession Cebada Capa, is the most effective R-gene for resistance to Puccinia hordei. Virulence for this gene was known in USA, Israeland Moroccobut not yet in Europe. We found an unexpected leaf rust infection in the field at Córdoba, Spainin 2004 on Rph7 carrying lines. This virulence for Rph7 was confirmed in growth chamber experiments, being the first report of Rph7 virulence in European populations of Puccinia hordei. A collection of 680 barley accessions was screened for resistance against this new isolate. Twelve accessions showed segregation with individual plants showing resistance based on hypersensitivity (low infection type). These individual resistant plants were selected and grown in the greenhouse to obtain seeds.