Bottle necks in breeding late blight resistant potato

Ewa Zimnoch-Guzowska

e.zimnoch-guzowska@ihar.edu.pl
Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute (IHAR), 05-831 Młochów, Poland (Poland)

Beata Tatarowska

Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute (IHAR), 05-831 Młochów, Poland (Poland)

Abstract

The resistance to late blight (LB) is considered as a factor of major importance among resistances to potato pathogens. For four last decades more work has been done on potato resistant to Phytophthora infestans than on breeding for resistance to any other potato disease. Many sources of resistance have been known to breeders for many decades, but the results of their utilization are still disappointing. The difficulties in breeding for LB resistance were assessed by 39 participants of the survey organized for the Global Initiative on Late Blight (Zimnoch-Guzowska and Flis 2002), who indicated several major factors hampering progress in this area. The following factors found to be the most important bottle necks are discussed in the paper: (i) identification and utilization of new sources of resistance, not sufficient agronomic value of the used resistance sources; (ii) combination of earliness with LB resistance; (iii) complexity of genetic determination of LB resistance; (iv) combination of foliage and tuber resistance; (v) screening methods applied for resistance evaluation; (vi) cost of selection for resistance; (vii) lack of molecular markers (MAS) applicable to selection for LB resistance.   limitations, Phytophthora infestans, potato, resistance breeding

Keywords:

limitations, Phytophthora infestans, potato, resistance breeding