Early selection of potato clones with resistance genes: the relationship between combined resistance and agronomical characteristics

Abstract

Cultivating resistant varieties of potato is the most effective and environmentally safe method of protecting against pests and diseases that affect potato crops. Therefore, potato breeding is focused on developing more resistant varieties so that the use of plant health products can be reduced during the cultivation cycle. Resistance to late blight, viruses and nematodes is the most important agricultural requirement. The use of molecular markers allows for the effective selection of resistant genotypes at early stages of breeding. However, the impact of early selection for resistance on the agronomic value of the final selected clones is a cause of concern for breeders. This study investigates the relationship between the presence of the combined resistance genes H1, Ry-fsto and Rpi-phu1, which confer resistance to nematodes, potato virus Y and late blight, respectively, and certain agricultural traits. The agronomic performance of most clones with and without the identified resistance genes was similar in terms of tuber yield, tuber size, tuber shape regularity, eye depth and tuber defect intensity. Some combinations with Ry-fsto may produce higher yields but may also be associated with more tuber defects. No negative relationships were observed between the combined resistance genes H1 + Ry-fsto + Rpi-phu1 and potato quality.

The relations of broad nematode resistance to quality characteristics as a consequence of marker-assisted selection in potato breeding programs

“…Clones with identified H1 gene had similar starch content, but significantly higher starch yield compared with clones without gene H1 (Milczarek et al 2014). In our next previous work (Milczarek et al 2017), starch content and eye depth were not different among the lines with/without H1. In this study, however, significant differences were observed in these traits.…”

Identification of Interspecific Potato Hybrids with Combined Resistance to Late Blight (Phytophthora Infestans) and Nematode (Globodera Rostochiensis)

“…Markers linked to resistance genes of economically important diseases and nematodes are useful tools for potato breeding (Asano and Tamiya, 2016). In recent breeding for combined resistance to nematodes, potato virus Y and late blight has employed marker assisted selection (López et al, 2015, Milczarek et al, 2017. Asano et al (2012) evaluated potato varieties and lines by the multiplex PCR method, and 264 of 812 were positive for the H1 marker.…”

Combination Breeding and Marker-Assisted Selection to Develop Late Blight Resistant Potato Cultivars

“…This trend has been supported by recent studies of the diversity of Russian potato cultivars and breeding lines using DNA markers of disease and pest resistance genes and cytoplasm types [6][7][8][9]. However, there is currently insufficient information to inform MAS efficiency at the early stages of breeding for pathogen resistance and on the effect of early selection on the manifestation of economically important traits in breeding material in field trial nurseriesA study using DNA markers linked to the resistance genes H1, effective against Globodera rostochiensis, Ry-fsto, effective against potato virus Y and Rpi-phu1 effective against LB in a segregating progeny did not reveal any relationship between the presence of various combinations of these markers and agronomical important traits, such as yield, size and shape of tubers [10]. The effectiveness of selecting prospective segregants with higher LB resistance upon the presence of the corresponding DNA markers has been studied but sporadically.…”