Development of Interspecific Hybrids between a Cultivated Eggplant Resistant to Bacterial Wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum) and Eggplant Wild Relatives for the Development of Rootstocks

Abstract

Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacerum is one of the most economically and destructive eggplant diseases in many tropical and subtropical areas of the world. The objectives of this study were to develop interspecific hybrids, as potential rootstocks, between the eggplant (Solanum melongena) bacterial wilt resistant line EG203 and four wild accessions (S. incanum UPV1, S. insanum UPV2, S.anguivi UPV3, and S. sisymbriifolium UPV4), and to evaluate interspecific hybrids along with parents for resistance to bacterial wilt strains Pss97 and Pss2016. EG203 was crossed successfully with wild accessions UPV2 and UPV3 and produced viable seeds that germinated when wild accessions were used as a maternal parent in the crosses. In addition, viable interspecific hybrids between EG203 and UPV1 were obtained in both directions of the hybridization, although embryo rescue had to be used. Hybridity was confirmed in the four developed interspecific hybrid combinations with three SSR markers. EG203 was resistant to both strains Pss97 and Pss2016, while UPV1 and UPV3 were, respectively, resistant and moderately resistant to Pss2016. The four interspecific hybrids with UPV2, UPV3, and UPV1 were susceptible to both bacterial wilt strains, indicating that the resistance of EG203, UPV1, and UPV3 behaves as recessive in interspecific crosses. However, given the vigor of interspecific hybrids between eggplant and the three cultivated wild species, these hybrids may be of interest as rootstocks. However, the development of interspecific hybrid rootstocks resistant to bacterial wilt will probably require the identification of new sources of dominant resistance to this pathogen in the eggplant wild relatives.

Doubled Haploids in Eggplant

“…Eggplant F1 hybrids, resulting from the crossing of two parental homozygous plants, typically perform better than parental lines for different agronomic traits [5,64]. A great amount of effort has been devoted to evaluating the performance of eggplant F1 hybrids for different characteristics, using wild or local homozygous landraces as parental lines [5,[65][66][67]. Among others, the valuable agronomic objective of eggplant breeding programs are yield, fruit color, seed/pulp ratio, flesh consistency and browning, nutritional characteristics, and resistance to diseases [59].…”

Solanum melongena allergy (A comprehensive review)

“…The most important representatives include eggplants (Solanum melongena), tomatoes (S. lycopersicum), potatoes (S. tuberosum), tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and petunias (Petunia inflata) (1). Asian eggplants (S. melongena L.) are one of the most important vegetables in the world, ranking at the sixth place of the most cultivated crops around the globe after tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.), watermelons (Citrullus lanatus), onions (Allium cepa L.), cabbage (Brassica oleracea L.) and cucumbers (Cucumis sativus L.) (2). Eggplants are produced mainly in Southeast Asian, African, and Mediterranean areas, especially in China and India (90% percent of the total production).…”

“…Approximately 54 million tons were produced in 2018 according to FAOSTAT (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) (3). From a medical point of view, eggplants are considered to present antioxidant capacity, due their high content of phenolics and flavonoids (2).…”

Screening and validation of three molecular markers for disease resistance in eggplant

“…However, grafting is expensive. Current breeding studies are aimed to develop F 1 hybrids that have a higher fruit yield, quality and disease resistance (Liu et al 2014;Miyatake et al 2016;Rakha et al 2020Rakha et al , 2021. During the breeding process, genotyping and selection based on DNA markers provide substantial advantages over traditional phenotypic screening alone (Nevamea et al 2020).…”