ASSESSMENT OF INITIAL MATERIAL OF AN APPLE TREE GENE POOL TO SCAB RESISTANCE

Abstract

Apple (Malus. Mill.) germplasm has been studied for resistance to scab (Venturia inaequalis (Ske.) in the Central Russia at VNIISPK (Russian Research institute for Fruit Crop Breeding) for many years. Apple varieties with high field resistance to scab have been identified. Variety screening for DNA markers linked to genes of resistance made it possible to find among the new varieties of VNIISPK breeding digenic ones (V_f and V_m – Poezia, Va1 and Vf –Svezhest, Vm and Va1 – Zarianka, Patriot and Sokovinka) as well as sources of Vh2 (Reka) and Va1 (Antonovka Krasnobochka, Antonovka Obyknovennaya, Patriot, Orlik, Zarianka, Bessemianka Michurinskaya, Svezhest and Sokovinka). The genotyping confirmed the Vm presence in Zarianka, Orlovim, Patriot, Sokovinka and Chistotel and the Vf presence in Afrodita, Veniaminovskoye, Zhilinskoye, Zdorovie, Imrus, Rozhdestvenskoye, Svezhest, Solnyshko, Stroevskoye and Yubilar. Apple varieties that combine polygenic and monogenic resistance to scab – Imrus, Zdorovie and Svezhest are of great interest for practical use. The involvement of new sources of resistance will allow developing varieties with long-term resistance to scab.