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Submitted to: Sugar Producer Magazine
Publication Type: Popular Publication Publication Acceptance Date: 3/12/2001 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: The breeding of sugarbeet for resistance to disease typically involves the use of costly field or greenhouse studies. Where field studies are done, it is not unusual for an entire nursery to be abandoned due to unfavorable weather conditions for disease development. The use of molecular genetic markers that "tag" genes for disease resistance can be of great use in this case. Such tags can be followed during a sugarbeet breeding program as a short-term substitute for actual disease resistance screening. The advanced germplasm emerging from such a program can then be confirmed for disease resistance under field conditions for disease development. Ultimately the technology generated from this research will be used by commercial and public sugarbeet breeders. Technical Abstract: The breeding of sugarbeet for resistance to disease typically involves the use of costly field or greenhouse studies. Where field studies are done, it is not unusual for an entire nursery to be abandoned due to unfavorable weather conditions for disease development. The use of molecular genetic markers that "tag" genes for disease resistance can be of great use in this case. Such tags can be followed during a sugarbeet breeding program as a short-term substitute for actual disease resistance screening. The advanced germplasm emerging from such a program can then be confirmed for disease resistance under field conditions for disease development. Ultimately the technology generated from this research will be used by commercial and public sugarbeet breeders. |