Plant Protect. Sci., 2002, 38(10):180-182 | DOI: 10.17221/10350-PPS

Genetics of resistance to Plum pox virus in apricotOriginal Paper

B. Krška, J. Salava, J. Polák, P. Komínek

¹ Faculty of Horticulture, Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry, 691 44 Lednice na Moravě, Czech Republic

² Division of Plant Medicine, Research Institute of Crop Production, 161 06 Prague-Ruzyně, Czech Republic Tel.: +420 519 340 105-7, Fax: +420 519 340 107, E-mail: krska@zf.mendelu.cz

Plum pox virus (PPV) causes serious damage in apricots grown in the Czech Republic and other countries where it ispresent. The virus spreads in orchards from infected trees by aphids to healthy trees of susceptible cultivars. Chemicalcontrol is ineffective from epidemiological point of view. For this reason growing of resistant apricot cultivars is the onlyway how to solve one of the most significant phytopathological problem. To study PPV resistance in apricot, three crossesbetween an apricot cultivars or a selection resistant to PPV and an apricot cultivars or a selection susceptible to PPV(LE-3218 × Stark Early Orange, LE-3241 × Vestar and LE-3246 × Vestar) were performed at Faculty of Horticultureof Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry in Lednice na Moravě in 1999. The BC1 seeds were stratified and thesubsequent seedlings were grown in a greenhouse. The seedlings were repeatedly inoculated with PPV-Vegama isolate(PPV-M strain) by an infected chip. The resistance of the plants was evaluated by symptom observing and ELISA inthree consecutive growth periods. The χ² test was used to analyse the data. It was found that two independent dominantcomplementary genes conditioned PPV resistance in apricot. The significance of these findings in relation to other reportsis discussed. Knowledge of PPV resistance inheritance will help in planning apricot breeding programmes.

Keywords: Plum pox virus; Prunus armeniaca L.; resistance; inheritance

Published: June 30, 2002  Show citation