Pathotypes of Cochliobolus sativus on barley in Australia

Pathotypes of Cochliobolus sativus have been reported overseas but variation in the Australian population has not been investigated nor have the optimum conditions for the identification of variation been established. Preliminary experiments showed that maximum separation of infection responses of seedlings to infection by C. sativus conidia was obtained at 21degreesC using inocula containing 10(4) conidia/mL and a dew period of 40 h. Under these conditions, the existence of pathotypes in the Australian population of C. sativus was demonstrated. Using 20 lines, six pathotypes were identified among 34 isolates of the fungus. A differential set consisting of 12 barley cultivars is proposed.