Varietal differences in Fusarium wilt-resistance in strawberry cultivars and the segregation of this trait in F1 hybrids

Abstract

Strawberry cultivars, inoculated with Fusarium wilt pathogen, were grown in water culture and the disease severity indexed (DSI) two months later. Of the 26 cultivars tested, 'Aisutoro', 'Asuka Wave', and 'Hogyoku' displayed extremely high resistance with DSI = 0, while the other 23 were susceptible ranging in DSI from 0.9 to 2.4. The DSI values of the F1 hybrid seedlings between the resistant 'Asuka Wave' and susceptible 'Sanchiigo' segregated in a manner characteristic of a major gene-mediated trait. Thus, we conclude that both qualitative and quantitative genes are involved in Fusarium wilt disease resistance of strawberry cultivars.