Performance of Solanum phureja-derived bacterial-wilt resistant potato clones in a field naturally infested with Ralstonia solanacearum in Central Brazil

ABSTRACT Bacterial wilt (BW), or brown rot, caused by the soil and seed borne bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum, is one of the most devastating diseases of potatoes cultivated in warmer regions of the world. There are no potato cultivars with a desirable level of BW resistance, although it has been recognized that resistance can be an outstanding component for disease management. However, the sources of resistance available lack agronomic traits required by potato growers, therefore being of little interest to breeders. The objective of this work was to evaluate the performance of 11 clones selected for BW resistance and improved for tuber traits upon selection in the last two decades. The clones under test were compared with susceptible and resistant clones and cultivars, in a completely randomized blocks design with three replications of single lines of 10 plants, in a field naturally infested with race 1, biovar 1, phylotype II of R. solanacearum. BW incidence was assessed 60-70 days after planting and total tuber yield in each plot was recorded 110 days after planting. All the evaluated clones presented higher levels of resistance to BW compared with the commercial varieties, not differing from the resistant, not commercial, controls. In a next step, these clones will be characterized for other desirable traits and those which combine high level of resistance and commercial characteristics will be recommended for breeders for enriching the genotypic background in the search for commercial varieties. We also confirmed that the cultivar BRSIPR Bel displays an intermediate level of resistance, what makes it an interesting genitor for its good agronomic characteristics. The findings of this work demonstrate that the improved potato clones selected under tropical conditions in the Embrapa’s pre-breeding project possess high and stable levels of resistance to bacterial wilt, being a valuable resource for breeders.

Heritability and correlation among potato tuber traits

The objectives were to estimate variance, co-variance and heritability components of potato tuber shape and fresh weight and the correlation among these traits in the early generations of selection. Seed and harvested tubers of nine progeny were evaluated for length, larger and smaller diameter and fresh weight. In average, the tubers were lengthy, because the relationship between lenght with larger diameter was 1.30 and with smaller diameter was 1.51. High heritability estimations were gotten for progeny selection, and low heritability for clone selection in the progeny. Heritability estimations got from correlation between generations were high and similar to progeny mean estimations. The tuber shape and fresh weight traits were highly correlated. The breeding gain can be maximized combining the selection among and within progeny to early discard undesirable clones.

Genetic gains for heat tolerance in potato in three cycles of recurrent selection

Practically all potato cultivars grown in Brazil are native to Europe and not fully adapted to the tropical conditions. The purpose of this study was to estimate the genetic gains of three cycles of recurrent selection for heat tolerance in potato. The base population in this study consisted of five Brazilian and five heat-tolerant clones. In the winter of 2006 and rainy growing season of 2007 103 clones were evaluated (eight clones of the base population, 29 of the first cycle, 32 and 30 of the second and third recurrent selection cycle, respectively, and four control cultivars). The genetic gains for tuber traits in both growing seasons were 37.8 % (yield), 13.0 % (weight), 32.4 % (percent of large tubers), 0.8 % (tuber specific gravity) and 16.6 % (general tuber appearance). The percentage of physiological disorders (second-growth tubers and cracking) was also reduced by selection.

What lies beneath? The pattern and abundance of the subterranean tuber bank of the invasive liana cat's claw creeper, Macfadyena unguis-cati (Bignoniaceae).

Cat’s claw creeper, Macfadyena unguis-cati (L.) Gentry (Bignoniaceae) is a major environmental weed of riparian areas, rainforest communities and remnant natural vegetation in coastal Queensland and New South Wales, Australia. In densely infested areas, it smothers standing vegetation, including large trees, and causes canopy collapse. Quantitative data on the ecology of this invasive vine are generally lacking. The present study examines the underground tuber traits of M. unguis-cati and explores their links with aboveground parameters at five infested sites spanning both riparian and inland vegetation. Tubers were abundant in terms of density (~1000 per m2), although small in size and low in level of interconnectivity. M. unguis-cati also exhibits multiple stems per plant. Of all traits screened, the link between stand (stem density) and tuber density was the most significant and yielded a promising bivariate relationship for the purposes of estimation, prediction and management of what lies beneath the soil surface of a given M. unguis-cati infestation site. The study also suggests that new recruitment is primarily from seeds, not from vegetative propagation as previously thought. The results highlight the need for future biological-control efforts to focus on introducing specialist seed- and pod-feeding insects to reduce seed-output.