Validation of an Alt locus for aluminium tolerance scored with eriochrome cyanine R staining method in barley cultivar Honen (Hordeum vulgare L.)

Aluminium (Al) phytotoxicity is one of the major constraints for barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) production on acid soils. Genetic variation for Al tolerance is present in barley germplasm. Previous studies have shown that Al tolerance in cv. Dayton and WB229 is controlled by a single locus on 4H. The present study was conducted to investigate the genetic control of Al tolerance in Japanese barley cv. Honen, and validate the linkage relationship between the Al tolerance locus and the molecular markers established previously. An F 3 progeny representing 94 F 2s from the cross of F6ant28B48-16 (Al sensitive) x Honen (Al tolerant) was evaluated for Al tolerance by staining roots with eriochrome cyanine R. A single Al tolerance locus Alt was validated on the long arm of chromosome 4H in Honen. Single sequence repeat (SSR) markers Bmag353 and HVM68 flanked the Alt locus at a distance of 1.6 ± 0.9 and 5.1 ± 1.7 cM, respectively. Our results have shown that the linkage between SSR markers and the Al tolerance locus can be used to characterise the 'unknown source' for Al tolerance. © CSIRO 2006.