Inheritance of leaf and stem resistance to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in a cross between Brassica incana and Brassica oleracea var. alboglabra

Deploying resistant cultivars can reduce the prohibitive cost associated with managing Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in rapeseed production worldwide. The present paper reports the results of an analysis of inheritance of leaf and stem resistance involving a single inter-specific cross between Brassica incana and Brassica oleracea var. alboglabra. Detached leaves and stems of parental lines, F-1, F-2 and the backcrosses were obtained from Southwest University, Chongqing Field Station, Chongqing China in the 2009/10 and 2010/11 field seasons and inoculated with S. sclerotiorum to determine resistance. Significant differences were detected across the two growing seasons between parents and some of the progeny for measures of both leaf and stem resistance. Continuous variation patterns among the segregating generations suggest the quantitative nature of resistance in both leaf and stem. Dominant and additivexadditive epistatic interactions controlled the genetic effects for both traits. Broad- and narrow-sense heritability estimates were moderately high for leaf resistance, but were intermediate to high for stem resistance in the two field seasons. Low estimates of the minimum number of genes for leaf and stem resistance were recorded in the two field seasons. The results indicate that selection gains and the identification of quantitative trait loci can be maximized in marker-assisted-selection through differential selection (tissue-based selection) on a replicated plot basis.