Accomplishments of a 10-Year Initiative to Develop Host Plant Resistance to Root-Knot and Reniform Nematodes in Cotton

Nichols, Robert

Accomplishments of a 10-Year Initiative to Develop Host Plant Resistance to Root-Knot and Reniform Nematodes in Cotton

Tuesday, January 7, 2014: 4:45 PM

Preservation Hall Studios 7 & 8 (New Orleans Marriott)

Robert L. Nichols , Cotton Incorporated

Alois A. Bell , USDA-ARS

Roy G. Creech , Formerly Mississippi State University

Peng Wah Chee , University of Georgia

Richard F. Davis , USDA-ARS CPMRU

John Erpelding , USDA-ARS-CGRU

David D. Fang , USDA-ARS-SRRC

Osman A. Gutierrez , USDA-ARS-SHRS

Kater D. Hake , Cotton Incorporated

Johnie N. Jenkins , USDA-ARS-GPAR

Jack E. Jones , Jajo Genetics

Kathy S. Lawrence , Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology

Jack C. McCarty , USDA-ARS-GPAR

Charles Overstreet , LSU AgCenter

Philip A. Roberts , University of California Department of Nematology

A. Forrest Robinson , Formerly with USDA-ARS

Roelof B. Sikkens , Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology

James L. Starr , Formerly with Texas A&M University

David M. Stelly , Texas A&M University

Sally Stetina , USDA-ARS

Robert D. Stipanovic , USDA-ARS-CPRU

Peggy Thaxton Smith , Mississippi State University

Mauricio Ulloa , USDA-ARS-SPA-CSRL

Ted P. Wallace , Mississippi State University

Congli Wang , University of California - Riverside

David B. Weaver , Department of Crop, Soil & Environmental Sciences

Martin Wubben , USDA-ARS

Jinfa Zhang , New Mexico State University

In 2003 Cotton Incorporated initiated a Beltwide research program to develop host plant resistance against root-knot (Meloidogyne incognita) and reniform (Rotylenchulus reniformis) nematodes. Objectives formulated at a coordinating meeting in 2003 that included participants from public institutions and private industry were to identify, characterize, and locate resistance genes, and transfer germplasm and markers to commercial planting seed companies to enable them to develop commercial cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) cultivars with high-levels of resistance to these nematodes. A high level of resistance to root-knot nematode (RKN) was available in a source developed by R. L. Shepherd at Auburn, AL and released by USDA-ARS. However this source was under-utilized in commercial breeding because phenotyping required time consuming bioassays and individually counting microscopic nematodes and/or root galls. No G. hirsutum sources of resistance were available to reniform nematode, although resistance had been observed in the diploid cottons G. arboreum, G. aridum, G. herbaceum, and G. longicalyx and in certain G. barbadense accessions. Cotton Incorporated directly supported projects in AL, GA, MS, TX, and CA. Complementary research was conducted by USDA-ARS researchers in MS. Considerable progress has been achieved. Research in CA, GA, MS, NM, and TX has demonstrated that RKN resistance is a two-gene system synergized by an epistatic interaction. SSR markers have been identified and published for RKN resistance on chromosomes 11 and 14. Resistance to reniform nematode has been introgressed into G. hirsutum from G. aridum and from G. longicalyx via tri-hybrid crosses. Releases of reniform nematode resistant lines derived from G. barbadense ‘713’ have been made. The resistance traits were mapped with SSRs and rendered amenable to MAS. In 2014, commercial cultivars with high levels of RKN resistance are anticipated from Monsanto - Delta and Pine Land (D&PL), and Dow AgroSciences (Phytogen).