Inheritance of Partial Resistance to White Mold in Field Pea (Pisum sativum L.)
Abstract
Sclerotinia sclerotiorum causes white mold and severe yield losses of pea. 484 accessions from the Pisum core collection were screened for resistance using a mini-agar plug technique. 49, 41, and 13 accessions were identified with partial resistance based on lesion expansion inhibition (LEI), nodal transmission inhibition (NTI), and both traits combined, respectively. A genetic linkage map based on F2 DNA from the cross, Lifter/PI240515, was developed with 78 markers on 9 linkage groups (LG) spanning 734 cM. Two quantitative trait loci (QTL) were identified based on phenotypic data from F2:3 and F3:4 families. A single QTL on LGIII explained 34.1% of the phenotypic variation for LEI, while a second QTL on LGII(b) explained 2.5% of the phenotypic variation for NTI. This is the first report of QTL for S. sclerotiorum resistance in pea which will be useful in development of resistant pea varieties.