Inheritance and effectiveness of genes in barley that condition tolerance to barley yellow dwarf virus

Tolerance to barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) in five Ethiopian barley genotypes was conditioned by major genes which apparently occurred at, or near, the same chromosome locus in each genotype. The genes or alleles differed in effectiveness, one providing a high, three an intermediate and one a low level of tolerance. In plants having a slow rate of growth, the effectiveness of the tolerance genes tended to be masked, but the effectiveness of the gene or allele which provided the highest level of tolerance was masked to a lesser extent than that of genes or alleles providing low or intermediate levels of tolerance.