var has good resistance to race 2 anthracnose, fusarium wilt, and gummy stem blight. 'AU-Sweet Scarlet' originated from the crosses 'Crimson Sweet' x PI 189225, 'All Sweet' x PI 362515, and 'Calhoun Sweet' x 'W.R. Peacock' (Fig. 1). Resistance to gummy stem blight and race 2 anthracnose was incorporated into the breeding lines from plant introductions by a backcross program. Progeny were selected in a screening program with inoculation tests in an incubation chamber and greenhouse as previously described (Norton, 1979; Sowell, 1975; Sowell and Pointer, 1962; Sowell et al., 1980; Suvanprakorn and Norton, 1980). Reaction to fusarium wilt was recorded on plants grown in pots in a greenhouse (Hopkins et al., 1987). The resistance was also observed in field plots heavily infected with fusarium, as indicated by plant injury the previous season. Selections were made annually for disease-resistant seedlings and high yield of excellent-quality fruit. Resistance to gummy stem blight and race 2 anthracnose was obtained from PI 189225 and PI 362515. Resistance to fusarium wilt was obtained from 'Crimson Sweet', 'Allsweet', 'Calhoun Gray', 'W.R. Peacock', and the plant introductions. Multiple-disease resistance of 'AU-Sweet Scarlet' has been good in field plantings (Table 1). 'AU-Sweet Scarlet' has been grown as AW-82-50CS in trials at the E.V. Smith Research Center and at several substations of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn Univ.; in the Southern Cooperative Watermelon Trials in other southern states;

Peonies (Paeonia), the grand garden perennial of spring and early summer, are economically important to the international cut flower market. Herbaceous peonies (Paeonia section Paeonia), tree peonies (Paeonia section Moutan), and intersectional crosses between the two types (Itoh Paeonia hybrids) are of interest to gardeners, growers, and nursery producers. Thousands of peony cultivars exist and identity is traditionally determined by experienced horticulturists knowledgeable in plant and bloom characteristics. With DNA extraction possible during any time of the year, molecular markers can provide genotype identity confirmation for dormant roots or mature post-bloom plants. The primary objective of our research was to rapidly and inexpensively develop microsatellite markers in a range of Paeonia species using barcoded Illumina libraries. A secondary objective was to apply these simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers to fingerprint 93 accessions that include tree, intersectional, and herbaceous peonies. We used 21 primers to distinguish cultivars and their close relatives. Also from our sequence information, greater than 9000 primers were designed and are made available.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract