Greenhouse Disease Screen Facilitates Breeding Resistance to Tomato Early Blight

Abstract

An F 2 population segregating for tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) early blight resistance derived from C1943 was screened in the greenhouse by spray-inoculating conidia of Alternaria solani (Ellis and Martin) Jones and Grout onto stems of 6-week-old seedlings. Selected F 3 lines derived from F 2 plants with resistant, intermediate, and susceptible stem lesion reactions were grown in a replicated field trial and evaluated for foliar early blight resistance. Stem lesion and foliar resistance were closely associated, making the greenhouse screen for stem lesion resistance useful in identifying plants with foliar resistance.