Marker Based Screening of F1 (Rosalie x Fuji) Mapping Population for Major Scab Resistance Gene Rvi6 in Apple (Malus × Domestica)

Abstract

Apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) being the most significant and profitable crop cultivated in temperate areas is extremely susceptible to the apple scab disease. It becomes problematic when pathogens develop resistance and farmers spend a lot of money on fungicides. These widespread worries reasonably call for a different disease resistance management strategy in order to use fungicides less frequently. As a result, the current study focused on scab resistance gene introgression in cultivar ‘Fuji’ using phenotypic and marker-assisted screening in hybrids created by crossing scab succeptible cultivar ‘Fuji’ with a scab resistant cultivar ‘Rosalie’. There was a 1:1 Mendelian segregation ratio between susceptible and resistant hybrids. From our study, the resistant hybrids obtained have the potential to be utilized as commercial varieties after evaluation for important pomological traits and also as resistant gene sources in downstream breeding programs.