Author
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Carson, Martin |
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Submitted to: American Oat Workers Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 4/16/2010 Publication Date: 4/21/2010 Citation: Carson, M.L. 2010. Durable resistance to oat crown rust: Can we get there from here?. American Oat Workers Conference Proceedings. pp. 26-27. Interpretive Summary: Race non-specific, or so-called "partial" or "slow-rusting" resistance to oat crown rust has been known for quite some time, but with a few exceptions, little progress has been made and oat cultivars with effective levels of partial resistance have not been released. The reasons for this vary from program to program but a few common themes emerge: it's easier to use the latest single race-specific gene (besides, when that gene loses its effectiveness, demand is automatically created for the newest release); it's hard to select for given the highly variable pathogen population; and the poor agronomics of the better sources of partial resistance among others. Recent developments in methods in identification and phenotyping partial resistance along with marker technologies should reduce or eliminate some of the barriers. However, we should be under no illusion that improving the level of partial resistance in U.S. oat cultivars will be easy or quick. A significant long-term investment and coordinated effort in germplasm enhancement (or "pre-breeding"), efficient phenotyping, and moving from QTL mapping to practical MAS for partial resistance QTL will be required. The relatively small size of the oat community in North America presents many challenges, but also opportunities for better coordination of research efforts. Increasing the level of durable, partial resistance in our cultivars represents one such opportunity. Technical Abstract: Race non-specific, or so-called "partial" or "slow-rusting" resistance to oat crown rust has been known for quite some time, but with a few exceptions, little progress has been made and oat cultivars with effective levels of partial resistance have not been released. The reasons for this vary from program to program but a few common themes emerge: it's easier to use the latest single race-specific gene (besides, when that gene loses its effectiveness, demand is automatically created for the newest release); it's hard to select for given the highly variable pathogen population; and the poor agronomics of the better sources of partial resistance among others. Recent developments in methods in identification and phenotyping partial resistance along with marker technologies should reduce or eliminate some of the barriers. However, we should be under no illusion that improving the level of partial resistance in U.S. oat cultivars will be easy or quick. A significant long-term investment and coordinated effort in germplasm enhancement (or "pre-breeding"), efficient phenotyping, and moving from QTL mapping to practical MAS for partial resistance QTL will be required. The relatively small size of the oat community in North America presents many challenges, but also opportunities for better coordination of research efforts. Increasing the level of durable, partial resistance in our cultivars represents one such opportunity. |
