Screening for Sclerotinia resistance in Helianthus tuberosus L. (Jerusalem artichoke) varieties, lines and somaclones, in the field and in vitro

Abstract

Yields in large‐scale ‘continuous’ cultivation of H. tuberosus (Jerusalem artichoke) can be greatly reduced by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, which causes a basal stem and tuber rot. In 34 varieties/lines of H. tuberosus from European, Russian and Canadian breeding programmes, responses to the pathogen varied from field resistance to 34% stem rot, cultivars Nahodka and Columbia showing c. 25% stem rot after three seasons of cultivation on the same site. Attempts to develop an in‐vitro selection for S. sclerotiorum resistance based on culture of H. tuberosus nodes on media precolonized with Sclerotina were unsuccessful. There was a strong positive correlation between capacity of nodes to grow in vitro on calcium‐free medium and field resistance. Somaclones of'Nahodka’ selected on the latter basis showed no field infection when grown on land that was heavily contaminated with the pathogen, and they were resistant to artificial inoculation with the pathogen.

Whole-Transcriptome Analysis Unveils the Synchronized Activities of Genes for Fructans in Developing Tubers of the Jerusalem Artichoke

“…The Jerusalem artichoke is an inulin-rich crop adapted to low-input agro-ecosystems (Cassels and Walsh, 1995;Mecella et al, 1996;Paolini and De Pace, 1997;Zhao et al, 2005;Kays and Nottingham, 2007;De Pace et al, 2010). The enzymatic basis of fructans metabolism and storage (Edelman and Popov, 1962;Dickerson and Edelman, 1966;Edelman and Jefford, 1968;Lüscher et al, 1996), the kinetics of 1-SST and 1-FFT enzymes (Koops and Jonker, 1994;Koops and Jonker, 1996), and genes coding for these enzymes are known for decades (Van der Meer et al, 1998).…”

“…tuberosus, also known as the Jerusalem artichoke (2n=6x=102), is a perennial rhizomatous species, adapted to low-nutrient soils. It exhibits high nitrogen and water-use efficiency (Mecella et al, 1996;Zhao et al, 2005;Kays and Nottingham, 2007), good competitive ability against weeds (Wall et al, 1987;Paolini and De Pace, 1997;Kays and Nottingham, 2007), and tolerance to diseases (Cassels and Walsh, 1995). These features coupled to the fact that the content of inulin in the tubers can be up to 30% on a fresh weight make H. tuberosus an ideal feedstock for ethanol production under different cropping systems, particularly in marginal lands (Kays and Nottingham, 2007).…”

Preservation Methods for Jerusalem Artichoke Cultivars

“…After three 10-min sterile water rinses, 20 shoot tips were excised under sterile conditions and plated onto one of two media. Growth medium 1 contained MS salts and vitamins, 0.1 mg•L -1 gibberellic acid and 15 g•L -1 sucrose (Cassells and Walsh, 1995) and growth medium 2 contained MS salts (Murashige and Skoog, 1962), MS-G, 1 mg•L -1 thiamine HCl, 1 mg•L -1 indole acetic acid, 20 g•L -1 sucrose, and 9 g•L -1 agar. Nine jerusalem artichoke cultivars were introduced into tissue culture by surface sterilizing tuber segments with 70% isopropanol for 2 min, 1.8% sodium hypochlorite for 20 min, and then rinsing three times with sterile water.…”

“…Furthermore, Helianthus breeders have interest in jerusalem artichoke germplasm since Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) resistance has been identifi ed through tissue culture screening (Cassells and Walsh, 1995).…”

“…This research was performed to identify desirable methods for maintaining back-up collections of clonally propagated H. tuberosus in genebanks. Methods for in vitro culture of H. tuberosus have been published (Cassells and Walsh, 1995;Devi and Rani, 2002;Roche and Cassells, 1996;Gamburg et al, 1999). Once established as in vitro plants, many temperate crops can be stored for extended lengths of time at low (5 to 15 °C) temperatures (Reed, 1992(Reed, , 1993.…”