Results of anthracnose resistance assessment of strawberry cultivars based on phenotyping and DNA analysis

   Relevance. Anthracnose is a harmful fungal disease for strawberries. In many countries, this pathogen is included in the list of quarantine objects. A good way to create new anthracnose resistant cultivars is to join forces of traditional breeding to assess and select resistant forms in conditions of infectious back-ground with the opportunities of marker-associated selection.

   Material and Methods. The object of the research – 197 strawberry cultivars of various origins. The subject of the research is the resistance to anthracnose. The assessment was carried out in conditions of natural infectious background in open field. We used molecular genetic methods of DNA extraction, PCR analysis, and assessment of amplification products in agarose gel. The experimental data were processed using cluster analysis.

   Results. All cultivars were divided into 5 clusters according to the results of the assessment on the natural infectious background. The second cluster had a damage score of less than 1 and united 82 relatively resistant cultivars. They can be recommended as sources of valuable traits for anthracnose resistance breeding. The first and fifth clusters united unstable varieties with a damage score of 3 and higher, which included 20 and 21 varieties, respectively. The third and fourth clusters united moderately resistant varieties with a damage score higher than 1 and less than 3, which included 43 and 31 varieties, respectively. The results of DNA-analysis showed the presence of PCR products for both markers (STSRca2_240 and STS-Rca2_417) in 15,2 % of the studied strawberry cultivars, including the Tatius and Tarro, which were created at the Department of Horticulture, Belarusian State Agricultural Academy. Additionally, 11,7 % of the cultivars had fragment of the STSRca2_240 marker. The largest number of samples (53,8 %) were characterized by the manifestation of the STS-Rca2_417 marker. In the remaining cultivars, these markers did not appear. Taking into account the obtained results, it cannot be stated that the presence of both assessed markers in the strawberry sample genome provides resistance to anthracnose.

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