Evaluation of Host Reaction and Yield Performance of Malt Barley Cultivars to Net Blotch, Pyrenophora teres in Bale Highlands, Ethiopia

The host reaction and yield performance of malt barley cultivars to net blotch, Pyrenophora teres disease was tested under natural infection of field at Sinana Agricultural Research Center (SARC) in Maher seasons of 2015. This study was designed to 12 commercial malt barley cultivars under field condition in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with two replications. The significant differences in severity (%), Area Under the Disease Progress Curve (AUDPC), grain yield (kg/ha), TKW (gm) and Days to Heading (DH) among the malt barley cultivars were observed. The HB-52 (4-68%), HB-1533 (12-54%) and Miscal-21 (4-68%) were scored the lowest ranges of severity index (%), where as IBON-174/03 (639.5%), HB-52 (611.4%) and HB-1533 (593.4%) were recorded the lowest means of AUDPC. The superior yield responses were obtained from HB-52 (1636kg/ha), Taveller (1647.5kg/ha), Miscal-21 (1775.5kg/ha) and Bekoji-1 (1752kg/ha) as compared to other cultivars. The disease severity % was gradually higher as the plant ages from seedling to maturity in all cultivars were tested to net blotch disease. Phonotypical scoring of net blotch on malt barley cultivar with yield performances were in to four categories; the yielder cultivar in the presence of net blotch disease pressure (Traveller, Bekoj-1 and Grace), both disease resistance and yielder cultivar (HB-52, Miscal-21), only net blotch resistance cultivar (HB-1533, IBON-174.03) and Cultivars (Beka, Sabini, Bahati, Fire Gebs and HB-120) were also identified as susceptibility to net blotch at natural infection in field with none yield advantage.