The expression of resistance to powdery mildew infection in winter wheat cultivars. II. Adult plant resistance

Resistance to powdery mildew infection was compared in 18 winter wheat cultivars under field conditions in three seasons, 1977 to 1979. In each year, natural infection occurred from populations of Erysiphe graminis f. sp. tritici containing host-specific pathogenicity characters matching identified cultivar resistance. Leaves, ears and stems were assessed separately. The expression of resistance in leaves appeared to be independent of that in ears. There were few consistent differences between cultivars in stem infection. Resistance in adult leaves did not necessarily correspond with that in seedling leaves; resistance in ears did not appear to be correlated with plant height. Quantitative differences between cultivars having the same identified resistance characters occurred in both leaves and ears; Flinor, Avalon and Bounty were most resistant on leaves whereas Iona, Wizard and Bounty were most resistant on ears. Differences in background resistance were considered to be responsible for these observations.