Location: Crop Improvement and Protection Research
Project Number: 2038-21530-003-018-R
Project Type: Reimbursable Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Oct 1, 2023
End Date: Sep 14, 2027
Objective:
1) Characterize and validate molecular markers for resistance to spinach endemic and emerging diseases.
2) Introgress disease resistance into spinach breeding populations and cultivars.
Approach:
We will conduct a highly integrated collaborative project with genetic studies to identify chromosomal regions associated with important spinach disease (e.g. downy mildew) resistance traits. We will identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and integrate such data into meta-analyses of crop performance, perform high resolution genetic analysis of major QTLs to provide molecular markers and identify candidate genes underlying selected QTLs, and analyze sequences of candidate genes across primary and secondary genepools. We will develop and apply robust easy to use molecular markers for marker-assisted selection. We will perform field evaluations of input and output genotypes, develop spinach populations for the identification and mapping of molecular markers linked to disease resistance, study the inheritance of the traits, and transfer these traits to new spinach cultivars through spinach breeding.
