Rooted leaf cuttings as an aid in screening for resistance to Plasmodiophora brassicae

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SUMMARYRooted leaf cuttings were used to screen a range of genotypes and cultivars from Brassica spp. and Raphanus sativus for resistance to Plasmodiophora brassicae. The optimum conditions for obtaining equivalent disease incidence and disease severity on leaf cuttings and on seedlings were investigated.In the method used leaves were cut near the base of the petiole before the lamina was fully expanded. They were kept in a mist propagator for 6 to 18 days and then transferred to a clubroot test bench and individually inoculated with a suspension of resting spores. There was an optimum period for each cultivar between cutting and inoculation which gave the maximum incidence of infection: c. 15 days for Doon Major (swede); 10–15 days for Civasto (stubble turnip) and Giant Rape (forage rape); c. 22 days for Maris Kestrel (marrow stem kale) and c. 10 days for Slobolt (fodder radish). Gall size on rooted leaf cuttings gave a quantitative measure of disease severity equivalent to that on seedlings in tests using the European Clubroot Differential host set, the five above‐mentioned cultivars and four swede cultivars. There was little callus production except on some B. campestris hosts and on cuttings with shoot tissue; microscopic examination was used to confirm the presence or absence of infection in galls.Hormone rooting powder did not increase the rate of root production in two cultivars of forage rape. Root development was less extensive in B. campestris than in B. oleracea or B. napus. Apparently normal shoots developed on 96% of leaf cuttings (inoculated and uninoculated) in which a fragment of axillary bud tissue was included. The results are discussed in relation to screening for resistance in whole plants and in tissue culture.