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Title: INHERITANCE OF RESISTANCE TO THE WEB BLIGHT PATHOGEN IN THE COMMON BEAN

Author
item MONTOYA, C - UNIV. OF PUERTO RICO
item BEAVER, J - UNIV OF PUERTO RICO
item RODRIGUEZ, R - UNIV OF PUERTO RICO
item Miklas, Phillip - Phil

Submitted to: Fitopatologia
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: MONTOYA, C.A., BEAVER, J.S., RODRIGUEZ, R., MIKLAS, P.N. INHERITANCE OF RESISTANCE TO THE WEB BLIGHT PATHOGEN IN THE COMMON BEAN. FITOPATOLOGIA, 21:61-69. 1998.

Interpretive Summary: Common bean production in the humid tropics would benefit from the presence of varieties with greater levels of resistance to web blight disease. This will require detection of moderate levels of resistance in the field. We developed a field nursery that was able to detect moderate levels of physiological resistance to web blight. This resistance was highly heritable indicating that efficient progress in breeding for resistance to web blight could be made by selecting for reduced infection. Varieties with resistance to web blight disease will yield more and require fewer pesticides to produce. Thus, resistance varieties will increase income to farmers and through reduced chemical use provide for a safer environment and food for human consumption.

Technical Abstract: Web blight is a devastating disease of common bean in the humid tropics. Field experiments evaluated the web blight reaction of five segregating populations for resistance to web blight. Significant differences in reaction were detected among lines within each population. Narrow sense heritability estimates for web blight reaction ranged for 0.45 to 0.59. These relatively high heritabilities suggest that selection for resistance in the field may be effective in earlier generations. Resistance to web blight will need to be combined with disease avoidance traits such as erect architecture to obtain effective resistance in the field. Five lines identified with moderate to low levels of web blight infection in field experiments conducted in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic will be evaluated for potential germplasm release.