Increased biotic and abiotic stress tolerance in hybrids between wild and domesticated cucurbit species

MARTÍNEZ, ANALÍA; ANTONELLI, CRISTIAN JAVIER; FANELLO, DIEGO; LÓPEZ ANIDO, FERNANDO; BÁRTOLI, CARLOS

Santa Fé

Congreso; XXXIII Reunión Argentina de Fisiología Vegetal; 2021

Sociedad Argentina de Fisiología Vegetal

Wild plant species constitute a valuable reservoir of genes contributing to increase the biotic and abiotic stress tolerance in domesticated species. In this study, we generated hybrids between two accessions of Cucurbitamaxima subsp. maxima var. Zapallito (domesticated species) and Cucurbita ecuadorensisCutler y Whitaker accesiónGrif 9446 (wild species) and evaluated their performance under stress conditions. Parental and hybrids plants were treated to flooding and recovery conditions in the field what frequently impairs the yield of this species. Hybrids showed higher chlorophyll content (estimated as SPAD units), transpiration(measured with a porometer) and photosynthesis (determined by a chlorophyll fluorometer)leading to a largely increased survival than domesticated parental plants under this stressful environment. In addition, hybrids showed higher tolerance when challenged to virus infections showing onlyaccessions of the domesticated plants symptoms of disease. These results constitute a promising contributionto generatingcucurbit plants with increased performance when cultivated under anenvironment restrictingcrop production.