Leaf and tuber resistance to late blight in interspecific potato hybrids derived from Solanum kurtzianum
Keywords:
potato species, hybridization, resistance, late blightAbstract
The Late blight (Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary) is still one of the most harmful diseases of potato affecting both leaves and tubers. Nowadays potato breeding is focused on development of varieties with leaf and tuber resistance. The late blight resistance sources from the Solanum species are used to achieve such kind of plant material. Some of the gene pool are characterised by the negative agronomic traits, such as long stolons, small irregular tuber shape, no tuber formation under long daylight condition. The sample Solanum kurtzianum Bitt. et Wittm k-VIR-12488 characterized by leaf susceptibility, tuber resistance and stable tuber formation under long light day, was crossed with potato clones of various origin and different level of leaf and tuber resistance to late blight. Among the hybrid progeny, many plants expressed resistance to tuber blight. Some plants combined leaf and tuber resistance. Within the hybrid population obtained from cross of S. kurtzianum k-VIR-12488 with the complex interspecific clone involving S. guerreroense Corr. being leaf resistant and tuber susceptible, half progenies expressed both leaf and tuber resistance.