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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Salinas, California » Crop Improvement and Protection Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #359814
Research Project: Genetics and Breeding of Lettuce, Spinach, Melon, and Related Species to Improve Production and Consumer-related Traits

Location: Crop Improvement and Protection Research

Title: Inheritance of resistance to cucurbit powdery mildew in bitter gourd

Author
item DHILLON, NARINDER - The World Vegetable Center (AVRDC) - Taiwan
item SANGUANSIL, SUPANNIKA - The World Vegetable Center (AVRDC) - Taiwan
item SRIMAT, SUPORNPUN - The World Vegetable Center (AVRDC) - Taiwan
item LAENOI, SUWANNEE - The World Vegetable Center (AVRDC) - Taiwan
item SCHAFLEITNER, ROLAND - The World Vegetable Center (AVRDC) - Taiwan
item PITRAT, MICHEL - Institut National De La Recherche Agronomique (INRA)
item McCreight, James - Jim

Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/1/2019
Publication Date: 6/1/2019
Citation: Dhillon, N.P.S., Sanguansil, S., Srimat, S., Laenoi, S., Schafleitner, R., Pitrat, M., McCreight, J.D. 2019. Inheritance of resistance to cucurbit powdery mildew in bitter gourd. HortScience. 54(6):1013–1016. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI13906-19.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI13906-19

Interpretive Summary: Cucurbit powdery mildew (CPM) caused by Podosphaera xanthii (Px) is an economically important disease of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) in Asia that can cause yield losses of up to 50% in some fields. Five powdery mildew-resistant breeding lines were selected for uniform expression of resistance to bitter gourd cucurbit powdery mildew race MC-1. The lines were selected from landraces from Belize, India, Thailand, and Taiwan. Inheritance of resistance to bitter gourd CPM race MC-1 was determined in four lines to be controlled by a single recessive gene that was identical among the four lines. Resistance in one line was conditioned in part by different gene. These two genes could be combined to provide more durable resistance to this race of bitter gourd cucurbit powdery mildew.

Technical Abstract: Cucurbit powdery mildew (CPM) caused by Podosphaera xanthii (Px) is an economically important disease of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) in Asia. High-level resistance to CPM is known in various bitter gourd accessions that have been used to develop bitter gourd breeding lines that originated in different countries. Bitter gourd breeding lines THMC 113 (Belize), THMC 143 (India), THMC 153 (Thailand), THMC 167 (India) and THMC 170 (Taiwan) possess high-level resistance to bitter gourd Px race (BG-CPM), designated Mc-1 from a field at Kamphaeng Saen, Thailand, while THMC 144 (India) is susceptible. Our objective was to determine the inheritance of resistance to BG-CPM race Mc-1. To that end, THMC 144 (India) was crossed with the five resistant lines. The parents and their respective F1, F2, backcross progenies were evaluated for BG-CPM disease severity in inoculated field and growth chamber tests. Resistance to BG-CPM race Mc-1 in the five resistant lines was recessive and oligogenic. Intercrosses of the CPM-resistant lines revealed allelic resistances in four of the breeding lines: THMC 113, THMC 153, THMC 167 and THMC 170. Resistance in THMC 143 was clearly non-allelic for resistance to CPM with the other four CPM-resistant lines.