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Breeding of Crop Disease-Resistant Cultivars

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A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Genetics, Genomics and Biotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 16826

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Dr. Tomislav Duvnjak

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Guest Editor

Department for Breeding and Genetics of Industrial Plants, Agricultural Institute Osijek, Juzno predgradje 17, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Interests: soybean and sunflower diseases; artificial infections

Dr. Aleksandra Sudarić

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Guest Editor

Department for Breeding and Genetics of Industrial Plants, Agricultural Institute Osijek, Juzno predgradje 17, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Interests: soybean breeding and genetics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Archeological records tell us that for the past several millennia plant cultivation has been an inseparable part of human society. Modern agriculture has the great potential to “feed the world” but, on the other hand, could be catastrophically “out of step” with the environment. Plant breeding has been the most successful approach for developing new crop varieties since domestication, making major advances in feeding the world and societal development possible and creating “harmony” between agriculture and the environment. Crop improvements through plant breeding programs, primarily focusing on improving a crop’s environmental adaptability and biotic stress tolerance in order to increase yield, have allowed agricultural production to keep pace with human population growth.

Crops are susceptible to a large set of pathogens including fungi, bacteria, and viruses, which cause important economic losses. The enhancement of plant resistance plays an important role in adjusting crop production to meet global population increases.

Genetic resistance represents the most economical approach to crop protection. One goal of understanding plant/pathogen interactions at the molecular level is to facilitate disease resistance in crop species. Disease resistance is often the most dynamic component of the crop breeding process, requiring continual updating owing to pathogen adaptation to plant genotypes to engineer resistance that is broad (effective against most or all genotypes of the pathogen) and durable (lasting through many cropping seasons). Due to the high evolutionary potential of many plant pathogens, novel genotypes no longer sensitive to the resistance gene or the phytosanitary product can rapidly emerge via mutation or recombination.

During pre-genomic years, traditional breeding programs were uncertain and imprecise, leading, for instance, to the transfer of large genome regions instead of just single gene insertions. New breeding techniques are attracting attention in plant research and concern many different areas, plant pathogen resistance among others, including the most recent and powerful molecular approaches for precise genetic modifications of single or multiple gene targets.

Research on the interactions between plants and pathogens has become one of the most rapidly moving fields in the plant sciences, findings of which have contributed to the development of new strategies and technologies for crop protection.

Creation of crops resistant/tolerant to economically important diseases is an exciting area of research. We have therefore established a Special Issue dedicated to “Breeding of crop disease-resistant cultivars” and invite you to contribute. This Special Issue will focus on newly created cultivars resistant or less susceptible to diseases caused by fungi, bacteria and viruses, interactions between plants and pathogens, resistance genes, breeding methods, and other issues concerning the creation of disease-resistant cultivars.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Tomislav Duvnjak
Dr. Aleksandra Sudarić

Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

plant breeding
disease resistance
tolerance
plant-pathogen interactions
resistance genes
breeding methods

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1682 KiB

Open AccessArticle

First Report of Hemp Fusarium Wilt Caused by Fusarium oxysporum in Croatia

by Tomislav Duvnjak, Karolina Vrandecic, Aleksandra Sudaric, Jasenka Cosic, Tamara Siber and Maja Matosa Kocar

Plants 2023, 12(18), 3305; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/plants12183305 - 18 Sep 2023

Viewed by 1341

Abstract

Wilted hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) plants were observed in August 2019 in commercial fields around Osijek, Croatia. Plants and roots with disease symptoms were collected. The single-spored isolates produced septate cottony white to light pink aerial mycelium and purple undersurface on potato dextrose agar (PDA). Smooth and hyaline hyphae were branched and septate. Macroconidia were fusiform to sickle-shaped with foot-shaped basal cells, elongated apical cells and three to five septa. Sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer and the partial elongation factor 1-α gene identified the species as Fusarium oxysporum. Artificial infection fulfills Koch’s postulates, producing plants which show stunted growth and wilt symptoms similar to those observed in the commercial fields. Control seedlings remained symptomless and healthy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of hemp Fusarium wilt causing F. oxysporum in Croatia. Considering that F. oxysporum has been reported in main field crops in Croatia, the presence of this pathogen could cause economically significant hemp production decreases, especially in humid and cold springs and susceptible varieties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breeding of Crop Disease-Resistant Cultivars)

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19 pages, 4365 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Highly Efficient CRISPR/Cas9 Mediated Gene Editing in Ocimum basilicum ‘FT Italiko’ to Induce Resistance to Peronospora belbahrii

by Marina Laura, Chiara Forti, Sara Barberini, Roberto Ciorba, Carlo Mascarello, Annalisa Giovannini, Luisa Pistelli, Ylenia Pieracci, Anna Paola Lanteri, Agostina Ronca, Andrea Minuto, Barbara Ruffoni, Teodoro Cardi and Marco Savona

Plants 2023, 12(13), 2395; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/plants12132395 - 21 Jun 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1856

Abstract

Ocimum basilicum (sweet basil) is an economically important aromatic herb; in Italy, approximately 1000 ha of “Genovese-type” basil are grown annually in greenhouses and open fields and are subjected to Downy Mildew (DM) disease, caused by Peronospora belbahrii, leading to huge crop losses. Mutation of the Susceptibility (S) gene DMR6 (Downy Mildew Resistant 6) has been proven to confer a broad-spectrum resistance to DM. In this work, an effective Genome Editing (GE) approach mediated by CRISPR/Cas9 in O. basilicum ‘Italiko’, the élite cultivar used to produce “Pesto Genovese D.O.P”, was developed. A highly efficient genetic transformation method mediated by A. tumefaciens has been optimized from cotyledonary nodes, obtaining 82.2% of regenerated shoots, 84.6% of which resulted in Cas9+ plants. Eleven T0 lines presented different type of mutations in ObDMR6; 60% were indel frameshift mutations with knock-out of ObDMR6 of ‘FT Italiko’. Analysis of six T1 transgene-free seedlings revealed that the mutations of T0 plants were inherited and segregated. Based on infection trials conducted on T0 plants, clone 22B showed a very low percentage of disease incidence after 14 days post infection. The aromatic profile of all in vitro edited plants was also reported; all of them showed oxygenated monoterpenes as the major fraction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breeding of Crop Disease-Resistant Cultivars)

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11 pages, 3675 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Large Field Screening for Resistance to Broomrape (Orobanche crenata Forsk.) in a Global Lentil Diversity Panel (GLDP) (Lens culinaris Medik.)

by Youness En-nahli, Kamal Hejjaoui, Rachid Mentag, Nour Eddine Es-safi and Moez Amri

Plants 2023, 12(10), 2064; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/plants12102064 - 22 May 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1654

Abstract

Broomrape (Orobanche crenata Forsk.) is a serious problem causing important losses to lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) production and productivity in Mediterranean countries. Despite intensive breeding activities, no resistance sources against O. crenata have been identified so far. In this study, a Global Lentil Diversity Panel (GLDP) of 1315 genotypes including local populations, landraces, accessions, improved lines and released varieties were evaluated for their resistance to O. crenata under highly infested field conditions at ICARDA Marchouch research station, Morocco. The trial was conducted according to an augmented design with repeated susceptible checks. The best-performing genotypes were selected based on the correlations between Orobanche infestation parameters and agronomic performance. Results showed significant variation (p < 0.005) among the studied genotypes and between the tested genotypes and checks for BY, D2F, D2M, PH, EODW and NEO. Out of the 1315 tested genotypes, only (1%) showed high to moderate resistance levels to O. crenata. Most of these genotypes are improved lines originating from different breeding programs. the PCA analysis clustered all the tested genotypes into four different groups. Good resistance levels were recorded for the genotypes ILL7723, ILL 7982, ILL 6912, ILL 6415, ILL 9850, ILL 605, ILL 7915, ILL 1861 and ILL 9888 showing a parasitism index and grain yield ranging from 1.69 to 5.99 and 10.97 to 60.19 g m⁻², respectively. Person’s correlation showed significant negative correlations between agronomic traits and infestation parameters. Both the path and spatial analysis showed that the D2F, NEO, D2OE, SEV and parasitism index (PI) were the strongest driver traits that influenced the seed yield (SY). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breeding of Crop Disease-Resistant Cultivars)

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15 pages, 524 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Improving Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) Seed Yield through Selection under Infection of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. sesami

by Rasha Ezzat Mahdy, Dalia A. Gaber, Mohamed Hashem, Saad Alamri and Ezzat E. Mahdy

Plants 2022, 11(12), 1538; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/plants11121538 - 9 Jun 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1528

Abstract

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.), the Queen of oilseeds, is infected with different pathogens, restricting its yield. Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. sesami is the most destructive disease of sesame worldwide, causing economic losses. This work aimed to develop new high-yielding strains, resistant and/or tolerant to Fusarium. Two cycles of pedigree selection were achieved under infection of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. sesami. Two populations in the F₂ (600 plants each) were used. The selection criteria were five single traits and another three restricted by yield. The restricted selection was better in preserving variability than the single trait selection. The observed genetic gain in percentage from the mid-parent in the F₄-generation was significant for the eight selection criteria. Single trait selection proved to be an effective method for improving the selection criterion, but it caused deleterious effects on the other correlated traits in most cases. The seed yield increased by 30.67% and 20.31% from the better parent in the first and second populations, respectively. The infection% was significantly reduced by 24.04% in the first, and 9.3% in the second, population. The selection index improved seed yield, and its attributes can be recommended. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breeding of Crop Disease-Resistant Cultivars)

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21 pages, 3481 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Genome-Wide Associations with Resistance to Bipolaris Leaf Spot (Bipolaris oryzae (Breda de Haan) Shoemaker) in a Northern Switchgrass Population (Panicum virgatum L.)

by Kittikun Songsomboon, Ryan Crawford, Jamie Crawford, Julie Hansen, Jaime Cummings, Neil Mattson, Gary C. Bergstrom and Donald R. Viands

Plants 2022, 11(10), 1362; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/plants11101362 - 20 May 2022

Viewed by 2139

Abstract

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), a northern native perennial grass, suffers from yield reduction from Bipolaris leaf spot caused by Bipolaris oryzae (Breda de Haan) Shoemaker. This study aimed to determine the resistant populations via multiple phenotyping approaches and identify potential resistance genes from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in the switchgrass northern association panel. The disease resistance was evaluated from both natural (field evaluations in Ithaca, New York and Phillipsburg, Philadelphia) and artificial inoculations (detached leaf and leaf disk assays). The most resistant populations based on a combination of three phenotyping approaches—detached leaf, leaf disk, and mean from two locations—were ‘SW788’, ‘SW806’, ‘SW802’, ‘SW793’, ‘SW781’, ‘SW797’, ‘SW798’, ‘SW803’, ‘SW795’, ‘SW805’. The GWAS from the association panel showed 27 significant SNPs on 12 chromosomes: 1K, 2K, 2N, 3K, 3N, 4N, 5K, 5N, 6N, 7K, 7N, and 9N. These markers accumulatively explained the phenotypic variance of the resistance ranging from 3.28 to 26.52%. Within linkage disequilibrium of 20 kb, these SNP markers linked with the potential resistance genes included the genes encoding for NBS-LRR, PPR, cell-wall related proteins, homeostatic proteins, anti-apoptotic proteins, and ABC transporter. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breeding of Crop Disease-Resistant Cultivars)

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12 pages, 1655 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Genetic Loci Associated with Resistance to Zucchini Yellow Mosaic Virus in Squash

by Swati Shrestha, Vincent Njung’e Michael, Yuqing Fu and Geoffrey Meru

Plants 2021, 10(9), 1935; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/plants10091935 - 17 Sep 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3320

Abstract

Zucchini Yellow Mosaic Virus (ZYMV) is an aphid-transmitted potyvirus that causes severe yield losses in squash (Cucurbita moschata) production worldwide. Development of resistant cultivars using traditional breeding approaches relies on rigorous and resource-intensive phenotypic assays. QTL-seq, a whole genome re-sequencing based bulked segregant analysis, is a powerful tool for mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL) in crop plants. In the current study, the QTL-seq approach was used to identify genetic loci associated with ZYMV resistance in an F₂ population (n = 174) derived from a cross between Nigerian Local (resistant) and Butterbush (susceptible). Whole genome re-sequencing of the parents and bulks of resistant and susceptible F₂ progeny revealed a mapping rate between 94.04% and 98.76%, and a final effective mapping depth ranging from 81.77 to 101.73 across samples. QTL-seq analysis identified four QTLs significantly (p < 0.05) associated with ZYMV resistance on chromosome 2 (QtlZYMV-C02), 4 (QtlZYMV-C04), 8 (QtlZYMV-C08) and 20 (QtlZYMV-C20). Seven markers within the QTL intervals were tested for association with ZYMV resistance in the entire F₂ population. For QtlZYMV-C08, one single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker (KASP-6) was found to be significantly (p < 0.05) associated with ZYMV resistance, while two SNPs (KASP-1 and KASP-3) and an indel (Indel-2) marker were linked to resistance within QtlZYMV-C20. KASP-3 and KASP-6 are non-synonymous SNPs leading to amino acid substitutions in candidate disease resistant gene homologs on chromosomes 20 (CmoCh20G003040.1) and 8 (CmoCh08G007140.1), respectively. Identification of QTL and SNP markers associated with ZYMV resistance will facilitate marker-assisted selection for ZYMV resistance in squash. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breeding of Crop Disease-Resistant Cultivars)

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14 pages, 307 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Wheat Germplasm for Resistance to Leaf Rust (Puccinia triticina) and Identification of the Sources of Lr Resistance Genes Using Molecular Markers

by Alma Kokhmetova, Shynbolat Rsaliyev, Makpal Atishova, Madina Kumarbayeva, Angelina Malysheva, Zhenis Keishilov, Danna Zhanuzak and Ardak Bolatbekova

Plants 2021, 10(7), 1484; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/plants10071484 - 20 Jul 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2967

Abstract

Leaf rust, caused by Puccinia triticina (Ptr), is a significant disease of spring wheat spread in Kazakhstan. The development of resistant cultivars importantly requires the effective use of leaf rust resistance genes. This study aims to: (i) determine variation in Ptr population using races from the East Kazakhstan, Akmola, and Almaty regions of Kazakhstan; (ii) examine resistance during seedling and adult plant stages; and (iii) identify the sources of Lr resistance genes among the spring wheat collection using molecular markers. Analysis of a mixed population of Ptr identified 25 distinct pathotypes. Analysis of these pathotypes using 16 Thatcher lines that are near-isogenic for leaf rust resistance genes (Lr) showed different virulence patterns, ranging from least virulent “CJF/B” and “JCL/G” to highly virulent “TKT/Q”. Most of the pathotypes were avirulent to Lr9, Lr19, Lr24, and Lr25 and virulent to Lr1, Lr2a, Lr3ka, Lr11, and Lr30. The Ptr population in Kazakhstan is diverse, as indicated by the range of virulence observed in five different races analyzed in this study. The number of genotypes showed high levels of seedling resistance to each of the five Ptr races, thus confirming genotypic diversity. Two genotypes, Stepnaya 62 and Omskaya 37, were highly resistant to almost all five tested Ptr pathotypes. Stepnaya 62, Omskaya 37, Avangard, Kazakhstanskaya rannespelaya, and Kazakhstanskaya 25 were identified as the most stable genotypes for seedling resistance. However, most of the varieties from Kazakhstan were susceptible in the seedling stage. Molecular screening of these genotypes showed contrasting differences in the genes frequencies. Among the 30 entries, 22 carried leaf rust resistance gene Lr1, and two had Lr9 and Lr68. Lr10 and Lr28 were found in three and four cultivars, respectively. Lr19 was detected in Omskaya 37. Two single cultivars separately carried Lr26 and Lr34, while Lr37 was not detected in any genotypes within this study. Field evaluation demonstrated that the most frequent Lr1 gene is ineffective. Kazakhstanskaya 19 and Omskaya 37 had the highest number of resistance genes: three and four Lr genes, respectively. Two gene combinations (Lr1, Lr68) were detected in Erythrospermum 35 and Astana. The result obtained may assist breeders in incorporating effective Lr genes into new cultivars and developing cultivars resistant to leaf rust. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breeding of Crop Disease-Resistant Cultivars)

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