Effect of Barley Yellow Mosaic Virus (BaYMV)- Infested Soil on the Agronomic Characters of Three Different Barley Varieties

Barley Yellow Mosaic Virus (BaYMV) caused significant reduction in barley yield and is difficult to con-trol due to alive parasitic soil-borne fungus, Palmyra gamines that transmits the, virus. Previous studies have indicated that a virus-free soil could be infested by using virus-contaminated farming machineneries and implements. For the further confirmation of this finding, different propor-tions of BaYMV-infested soil were mixed into virus free soil. Three barley varieties (Hordum vulgarae, cv “Olbori”, “Baegdong” and “Sacheon 6”) were sown in pots treated with different rate of P. graminis-infested soil ranging from 0% to 100% in October 20, 2001. Results showed that BaYMV infection increased as the rate of infested soil increased. Initial symptoms were observed in a pots treated with 10% infested soil in all the 3 varieties of barley. “Olbori” had about 5% infection in 20% infested soil and about 10% infection in 40% or 50% infested soil and about 20% infection in 60% infested soil. In “Baegdong”, the trend of BYMV occurrence was similar with “Olbori” but the time of severe infection was earlier than “Olbori”. BaYMV infection in “Sacheon 6” was even earlier than “Baegdong” with much more severe symptoms than “Baegdong”. The growth rate of barley was affected by about 19-22% when grown in 20% infested soil. As the rate of BaYMV in-fested soil increased the heading date was delayed but the maturing date was early in “Olbori” and “Sacheon 6”. Also, reduction rate of culm length in 3 varieties increased with increase of infested soil content. However, “Olbori” showed the highest reduction. “Sacheon 6”, have been characterized with long spike length, however was significantly reduced as the infested soil increased. On the other hand, spike length of “Olbori” was not significantly affected despite of increased of infested soil. The reduction rate of 1000 kernel weight was higher in large kernel size cultivar “Sacheon 6” and “Olbori” than small kernel size “Baegdong” as increase of BaYMV-infested soil content.