Biotechnological methods applied to produce sclerotinia sclerotiorum resistant sunflower

Abstract

Plant breeders are always interested in variability and new genetic sources. In the past, the sources have been limited to species able to be sexually crossed. Biotechnological methods applying cell biology, genetic engineering and tissue culture techniques now provide almost unlimited strategies to create additional breeding resources. In the past 10 years, we spent much effort using several biotechnological methods to achieve sunflower plants with a superior resistance to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, which is the most important fungal pathogen of this crop worldwide. Symmetric and asymmetric somatic hybridizations were the most effective and viable alternatives to overcome the severe Sclerotinia infections in this crop. These results have been confirmed in preliminary field experiments of the hybrids. © 2002, by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston. All rights reserved.