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Resistance

Inheritance of Resistance to Bipolaris maydis Race O in Crosses Derived from Nine Resistant Inbred Lines of Maize. D. C. Burnette, Research assistant, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana 61801; D. G. White, associate professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana 61801. Phytopathology 75:1195-1200. Accepted for publication 17 June 1985. Copyright 1985 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-75-1195.

The inheritance of resistance in maize (Zea mays) to southern corn leaf blight caused by Bipolaris maydis race O was studied in 1981 and 1982. In 12 families derived from crosses of nine resistant inbreds and three susceptible inbreds, additive genetic effects were highly significant, accounting for 49.0 to 96.9% of the total variation. Significant dominance genetic effects were detected in all but one family, but accounted for only 2.5 to 46.9% of the total variation. Estimates of broad-sense heritabilities ranged from 29.5 to 69.1% and the estimated numbers of effective factors ranged from 2.2 to 14.6. Pedigree and recurrent selection methods should be effective in breeding for improved resistance to southern corn leaf blight.