Communicated by Îzaks RaðalsAt the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture, during 2004Agriculture, during -2006
to powdery mildew of approximately 1,500 winter wheat lines was assessed in check and competitive trial nurseries. Our experimental evidence showed that there were no genotypes with effective resistance singlegenes among the lines tested. Effective powdery mildew resistance from start to end of vegetation season depended on the quantitative resistance level. The most resistant lines were evaluated with a score of 2 and area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) values ranging between 1.0-5.4. The most susceptible genotypes from the collection nurseries had score 8-9 and AUDPC values ranging between 1350-2220. The correlations between maximal disease severity and AUDPC values were strong (r = 0.79-0.92). Genotypes with AUDPC values up to 10 represented 93 lines or 7% in the check trial nursery and 22 lines or 9% in the competitive trial nursery. Lines evaluated with a score 4-5 and AUDPC value 100-300 dominated in 2004.In the next year the dominant genotypes had resistance scores [3][4]. The highest powdery mildew resistance (score 2 and AUDPC value 1.0) was identified for the lines Maverich/Victo, Flair/Lut.9392, Strumok/Lut.9321, Strumok/Lut.9313 with natural infection. Resistance to powdery mildew of approximately 1,500 breeding lines of winter wheat from competitive trial (generations F7-10) (CTN) and check (generations F6-7) nurseries (CN) was investigated under natural infection. The majority of cultivars used as parental forms were from European counties, some from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and USA. Cultivars used for breeding possessed single gene resistance to powdery mildew, however, these genes were totally inefficient (Anonymous, 2003;2006;Liatukas and Ruzgas, 2004;Wang et al., 2005 soil. N 90 P 60 K 60 was applied annually. Phosphorus and potassium fertilizers were applied before sowing and nitrogen in spring after resumption of vegetative growth. Plots were sprayed with herbicides in spring when weeds started to grow intensively. Other pesticides and additional fertilization were not applied.Diseases were assessed from stem elongation (BBCH 30-31) to late milk development (BBCH 77). Resistance to diseases was measured using a 1-9 scale: score 1 no visible symptoms of diseases, score 9 plants heavily infected (infection ≥ 80%). The highest disease severity was used as the disease index (DI).The area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) from plots of disease severity against time, from the first scoring to the last.where "t" is time in days, "y" is the percentage of affected foliage at each reading and "n" is the number of readings (Campbell and Madden, 1990). Figure 1 shows the level of partial resistance in winter wheat breeding lines. The most resistant lines with AUDPC value not exceeding 10 had the disease index 2; the most susceptible ones had score 9 and AUDPC value over 1000. The next year lines were more resistant. Lines from CN had DI from 2 to 3 and AUDPC ranging from 3...