Genetic analysis of a worldwide barley collection for resistance to net form of net blotch disease (Pyrenophora teres f. teres).

A total of 449 barley accessions were phenotyped for Pyrenophora teres f. teres resistance at three locations and in greenhouse trials. Genome-wide association studies identified 254 marker-trait associations corresponding to 15 QTLs. Net form of net blotch is one of the most important diseases of barley and is present in all barley growing regions. Under optimal conditions, it causes high yield losses of 10-40% and reduces grain quality. The most cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to prevent losses is growing resistant cultivars, and markers linked to effective resistance factors can accelerate the breeding process. Here, 449 barley accessions expressing different levels of resistance comprising landraces and commercial cultivars from the centres of diversity were selected. The set was phenotyped for seedling resistance to three isolates in controlled-environment tests and for adult plant resistance at three field locations (Belarus, Germany and Australia) and genotyped with the 50 k iSelect chip. Genome-wide association studies using 33,818 markers and a compressed mixed linear model to account for population structure and kinship revealed 254 significant marker-trait associations corresponding to 15 distinct QTL regions. Four of these regions were new QTL that were not described in previous studies, while a total of seven regions influenced resistance in both seedlings and adult plants.