Abstract
Fusarium wilts are widespread diseases affecting most agricultural crops. In absence of efficient alternatives, sowing resistant cultivars is the preferred approach to control this disease. However, actual resistance sources are often overcome by new pathogenic races, forcing breeders to continuously search for novel resistance sources. Selection of resistant accessions, mainly based on the evaluation of symptoms at timely intervals, is highly time-consuming. Thus, we tested the potential of an infra-red imaging system in plant breeding to speed up this process. For this, we monitored the changes in surface leaf temperature upon infection by F. oxysporum f. sp. pisi in several pea accessions with contrasting response to Fusarium wilt under a controlled environment. Using a portable infra-red imaging system we detected a significant temperature increase of at least 0.5 °C after 10 days post-inoculation in the susceptible accessions, while the resistant accession temperature remained at control level. The increase in leaf temperature at 10 days post-inoculation was positively correlated with the AUDPC calculated over a 30 days period. Thus, this approach allowed the early discrimination between resistant and susceptible accessions. As such, applying infra-red imaging system in breeding for Fusarium wilt resistance would contribute to considerably shorten the process of selection of novel resistant sources.
Highlights
IntroductionFusarium oxysporum, affecting many agricultural crops, including most legumes, cucurbits, tomato, strawberry, cotton and banana [1,2]
Fusarium wilts are widespread diseases caused by many forms of the soil-borne pathogenFusarium oxysporum, affecting many agricultural crops, including most legumes, cucurbits, tomato, strawberry, cotton and banana [1,2]
Prior to the infra-red analysis of the accessions, we evaluated their responses to the disease from 7 to 30 dpi in order to estimate the area under the disease progression curve (AUDPC) for further analysis and to confirm their resistance status
Summary
Fusarium oxysporum, affecting many agricultural crops, including most legumes, cucurbits, tomato, strawberry, cotton and banana [1,2] This soil-borne pathogen can survive as thick-walled chlamydospores, which remain viable in the soil for many years, which makes its control difficult. The germinating fungus is able to penetrate the root and reach the vascular vessels where it grows profusely leading to a rapid plant death, in part due to drastic water stress [3] Once established, this pathogen is very difficult to eradicate since it can grow in the absence of a compatible host. It is essential to continuously search for novel sources of resistance to complement and reinforce the actual resistance of elite cultivars. This search requires the availability of large germplasm collections and of precise and accurate screening techniques [4]
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