Screening Brassica Cultivars for Resistance to Western Oregon Clubroot Pathotypes

Abstract

Growing resistant cultivars from the Brassicaceae family (brassicas) is an effective strategy to minimize crop loss caused by the soilborne pathogen Plasmodiophora brassicae (clubroot). However, there are many clubroot pathotypes, and genetic resistance to clubroot may be pathotype-specific. To determine which pathotypes are present in western Oregon, diseased roots were collected from five farms and identified by the European clubroot differential (ECD) set. To assess resistance to the identified pathotypes, 21 vegetable cultivars from nine crops with purported resistance to clubroot were evaluated for disease incidence and severity in field and greenhouse studies. The crops evaluated included broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica), cauliflower (B. oleracea var. botrytis), brussels sprouts (B. oleracea var. gemmifera), cabbage (B. oleracea var. capitata), napa cabbage (Brassica rapa var. pekinensis), pak choi (B. rapa var. chinensis), kohlrabi (B. oleracea var. gongylodes), turnip (B. rapa var. rapa), and rutabaga (Brassica napus var. napobrassica). ECD host reaction showed similar virulence among clubroot collections, and all field isolates had the same ECD pathotype designation, 16/02/30. Compared with a crop-specific susceptible control, 17 of 21 cultivars had some resistance to clubroot, and of those, 15 were highly resistant (≤15% incidence with low disease severity). This research demonstrated that western Oregon farmers have several commercially available cultivars with resistance to the dominant pathotyope in the region. However, each farmer must evaluate the suitability of these cultivars to meet consumer and industry requirements.