Heterosis Breeding Could Improve Root and Stem Anatomical Traits Conferring Bacterial Wilt Disease Tolerance in Tomato Cultivars

• Published in: Agricultural research (India : Online) 2022-09, Vol.11 (3), p.341-351
• Main Authors: Dutta, Subhramalya, Chattopadhyay, Arup, Acharya, Brati, Dutta, Subrata, Mandal, Asit Kumar, Hazra, Pranab
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bacteria; Biodiversity; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Biology; Colonization; Crop yield; Cultivars; Disease tolerance; Fruits; Full-Length Research Article; Genetic control; Heterosis; Hybrids; Hypocotyls; Inoculation; Life Sciences; Plant Biochemistry; Plant breeding; Plant Ecology; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Plant Sciences; Seedlings; Stems; Tomatoes; Vessels; Wilt; Xylem
• ISSN: 2249-720X; 2249-7218
• DOI: 10.1007/s40003-021-00571-x

Twelve F 1 hybrids developed through line × tester design along with seven parents were evaluated for fruit yield, quality, incidence of bacterial wilt disease and anatomical features of root and stem to study the manifestation of heterobeltiosis, and to understand the implication of anatomical characters towards tolerance against bacterial wilt disease. Two hybrids (Utkal Deepti × CLN-2764A and Utkal Kumari × CLN-2777G) registering substantial tolerance against bacterial wilt exhibited marked heterobeltiosis for fruit yield per plant and other component traits. Hypocotyls of the highly tolerant hybrid did not show any bacterial colonization in xylem tissues under light microscope even at 8 days of inoculation with native bacterial isolate. The potted seedlings of tolerant hybrid showed mean disease index of 1.16 even at 20 days of inoculation with bacterial isolate which indicated promise for its utilization in bacterial wilt prone areas. Establishment of significant negative correlations between the incidence of bacterial wilt disease and the ratio of large vessels/small vessels in stem, diameter of large vessels in stem, and diameter of large vessels in roots suggested that these anatomical characters might be considered as important indices for selection of hybrid tolerant to bacterial wilt disease. Significant heterobeltiosis was also manifested for three anatomical traits. This study justified the scope of utilizing the anatomical features of stem and root in breeding tomato cultivars tolerant to bacterial wilt disease. Overwhelming response of non-additive genetic control for these anatomical traits also exposed the evidence of heterosis breeding for their improvement.