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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Sugarbeet Research » Research » Research Project #437977

Research Project: Identification and Introgression of Resistance to Cercospora Leaf Spot and Root Maggot for Sugarbeet Improvement

Location: Sugarbeet Research

Project Number: 3060-21000-045-005-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Jun 1, 2020
End Date: May 31, 2025

Objective:
1. Identify host resistance to Cercospora leaf spot and root maggot in sugarbeet germplasm lines and wild Beta maritima accessions; 2. Determine genomic regions conferring the resistance; 3. Introgression of the resistance to develop new resistance sugarbeet germplasm lines.

Approach:
1. Evaluating 1,000 sugarbeet germplasm lines and 450 Beta maritima accessions in field and/or controlled conditions for their resistance to Cercospora leaf spot and root maggot; 2. Genotyping all those sugarbeet and B. maritima lines through genome sequencing; 3. Conducting genome-wide association analysis to identify genomic regions associated with the resistance; 4. Making genetic mapping and breeding populations by crossing several selected resistant lines with the cultivated sugarbeet lines with high sugar productivity; 5. Developing molecular markers linked to resistant genes; 6. Marker-assisted selection will be conducted to select lines with improved resistance to leaf spot and root maggot as well as maintaining the high sugar productivity.