Tetraploidization of a diploid potato hybrid resistent to infection by Meloidogyne incognita

MARFIL CF; PIZZI ME; MASUELLI RW

Congreso; XXVIII Annual Scientific Meeting Cuyo Biology Society; 2010

The root knot nematode is a soil pest that infects and damages potato farming. Specifically, Meloidogyne incognita is the more important specie in temperate/ hot zones. In a previous project (SECYT 2002/2004); working with plants in pots and in greenhouse conditions, we characterized accessions of a wild diploid potato Solanum kurtzianum with tolerance to the infection. The accession K8 showed the highest tolerance to the infection by the nematode and was used as progenitor in sexual crosses with a haploid of S. tuberosum with the goal of introduce this resistance in the cultivated potato. From this crosses diploids hybrids which displayed tolerance were obtained. In particular, the hybrid H3 was selected by presents the highest level of resistance to the infection and in addition the biggest tubers. The specific objectives of this project are to establish in vitro and duplicate, using Colchicine, the chromosome number of this diploid hybrid to reach the ploidy level of the cultivated specie. The original plant material was introduced in vitro from uninodal segments and thermotherapy was used for the elimination of Potato Virus Y. We compared the effect of Colchicine on the uninodal segments using three concentrations and three applications. Currently, the ploidy levels of the acclimatized plants are being evaluated.