Field assessment of commercial cotton cultivars for Verticillium wilt resistance and yield
Introduction
Verticillium wilt causes substantial losses in many dicotyledonous plants. The causal agent, Verticillium dahliae Kleb, is a soilborne fungus that has a host range of more than 300 plant species (Pegg and Brady, 2002). The fungus is capable of persisting in the soil via the production of microsclerotia (Wilhelm, 1955). Management of Verticillium wilt requires a number of different tactics, most providing only limited control. Crop rotation with non-hosts has not been very effective at reducing high V. dahliae microsclerotia densities (Butterfield et al., 1978, Huisman and Ashworth, 1976). Rotation with sorghum can delay initial buildup of V. dahliae microsclerotia (Wheeler et al., 2014), resulting in less wilt, higher cotton yields, and better economic returns (Wheeler et al., 2012, Wheeler et al., 2016). Chemical control with fumigation has been practiced, but high usage rates are required to kill microsclerotia, limiting the use to high-value crops (Ben-Yephet and Frank, 1984, Woodward et al., 2011). Fungicides have not been widely used for managing Verticillium wilt (Bell, 1992), though some have been shown to reduce severity of Verticillium wilt symptoms in field studies (Bubici et al., 2006, Kurt et al., 2003). Selection of resistant or partially resistant cultivars is the most desirable method of managing the disease; however, highly resistant commercial cultivars have not been identified in Gossypium hirsutum grown in the U.S.
Efforts to assess Verticillium wilt resistance include the incidence or severity of foliar symptoms and vascular discoloration (Bassett, 1974, Karademir et al., 2010, Marani and Yaacobi, 1976). An index may include both incidence of wilt and percent defoliation within the same scale (Aguado et al., 2008). Fungal reproduction or growth in the plant has also been used as a direct measure of resistance (Frost et al., 2007, Pasche et al., 2013, Tsai and Erwin, 1975, Zhang et al., 2013). Chawla et al. (2012) found that microsclerotia (MS) densities increased slowly over a three-year period in soils planted with partially resistant cultivars, from 1.3 to 2.8 MS/cm3 soil, compared to a susceptible cultivar which increased to 11.1 MS/cm3 soil. Such relatively small changes in microsclerotia production in a cultivar within a growing season might be difficult to detect in cultivar trials due to spatial variability.
“Many cotton breeding programs have been frustrated by the fact that a cultivar might be resistant to Verticillium wilt, but is not as productive as less resistant cultivars. Therefore, the use of yield or its components associated with foliar symptoms is very important as an indicator of Verticillium wilt tolerance” (Aguado et al., 2008). The objective of this research was to represent cultivars as class values by their relative ability to reduce wilt symptoms (expressed as wilt incidence), and defoliation (expressed as percent defoliation); and determine the relationship between these class values and yield in fields infested with V. dahliae.
Section snippets
Materials and methods
Data sets from cultivar trials conducted in west Texas from 2005 through 2015 were used in the analysis. Trials typically consisted of 32 entries, arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Plots were two-rows wide by 11.0 m in length, and 144 seeds were planted in each row. Two composite soil samples were taken at planting from all test sites and assayed for density of V. dahliae microsclerotia (Wheeler et al., 2014). All entries were commercially sold cultivars
Results
The 11 years of testing resulted in a wide range of conditions. Wilt incidence averaged <10% in 26% of the sites, and the frequency of sites decreased as wilt incidence increased (Fig. 1A). Defoliation had a very different frequency distribution than did wilt incidence. Sites with >40% defoliation were the most frequent at 32%, followed by an average defoliation between 10 and 20% which occurred at 29% of the sites (Fig 1B). Microsclerotia density covered a wide range, but 75% of the plots had
Discussion
Severity of Verticillium wilt involves a combination of factors including microsclerotia density (Ashworth et al., 1979, Wheeler et al., 2014), defoliating versus nondefoliating populations of V. dahliae (Hu et al., 2015, Schnathorst and Mathré, 1966) and environmental conditions (Garber and Presley, 1971, Halisky et al., 1959). There is some disagreement as to what density of microsclerotia result in significant losses due to Verticillium wilt, because differences in the sensitivity of
Acknowledgements
The cultivar trials were funded by the Plains Cotton Improvement Program and Texas Cotton State Support Committee (13-470TX, 07-141TX, and 04-531TX). We also greatly appreciate the help of all the producers who have hosted these trials.
References (35)
- et al.
Study of gene effects for cotton yield and Verticillium wilt tolerance in cotton plant (Gossypium hirsutum L.)
Field Crop. Res.
(2008) - et al.
Efficacy of a acibenzolar-S-methyl and two strobilurins, azoxystrobin and trifloxystrobin, for the control of corky root of tomato and Verticillium wilt of eggplant
Crop Prot.
(2006) - et al.
Evaluation of cotton cultivars for resistance to pathotypes of Verticillium dahliae
Crop Prot.
(2009) - et al.
Sensitivity of Verticillium dahliae to prochloraz and prochloraz-manganese complex and control of Verticillium wilt of cotton in the field
Crop Prot.
(2003) - et al.
The interaction between breeding and crop management in improved cotton yield
Field Crop. Res.
(2013) - et al.
Evaluation of three cultivation practices for early cotton establishment and improving crop profitability
Soil & Tillage Res.
(2006) - et al.
Verticillium wilt disease of cotton: influence of inoculum density in the field
Phytopathology
(1979) Resistance of cotton cultivars to Verticillium wilt and its relation to yield
Crop Sci.
(1974)Verticillium wilt
- et al.
Influence of inoculum density of defoliating and nondefoliating pathotypes of Verticillium dahliae on epidemics of Verticillium wilt of cotton in Spain
Phytopathology
(1995)
Optimization of the metham sodium dose in controlling Verticillium dahliae in potato
Phytoparasitica
The influence of several crop sequences on the incidence of Verticillium wilt of cotton and on the population of Verticillium dahliae in field soil
Phytopathology
Effect of cultivar selection on soil population of Verticillium dahliae and wilt development in cotton
Plant Health Prog.
Considerations for Verticillium wilt resistance evalutations in potato
Plant Dis.
Relation of air temperature to development of Verticillium wilt on cotton in the field
Phytopathology
Influence of soil temperature on Verticillium hadromycosis of cotton in California. Plant Dis
Reptr
Nondefoliating and defoliating strains from cotton correlate with races 1 and 2 of Verticillium dahliae
Plant Dis.
Cited by (11)
Effects of production practices on temporal disease progress of Verticillium wilt of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) in the Texas High Plains, USA
2021, Crop ProtectionCitation Excerpt :Resistant or partially resistant cultivars are the most practical and affordable disease management strategies. Several cotton cultivars developed from Australian germplasm have performed well in fields with a history of Verticillium wilt in the Texas High Plains (Wheeler and Woodward, 2016). Improvements in lint yield and fiber quality have also occurred with cultivar selections (Zhou et al., 2014) or adjustments in plant densities (Bednarz et al., 2005).
The effects of tillage system and irrigation on Verticillium wilt and cotton yield
2020, Crop ProtectionCitation Excerpt :The largest concentrations of microsclerotia are produced in the above-ground plant parts, although some are also produced in the roots (Mol and Scholte, 1995). Management for Verticillium wilt frequently involves planting resistant or tolerant cultivars (Wheeler and Woodward, 2016). Other management tactics include higher seeding rates (Minton et al., 1972; Wheeler et al., 2010) and reduced irrigation (Leyendecker, 1950; Wheeler et al., 2012).
Subtle regulation of cotton resistance to Verticillium wilt mediated by MAPKK family members
2018, Plant ScienceCitation Excerpt :is one of the most devastating diseases of cotton [54,55]. Due to its long-term survival as microsclerotia in soil and broad host range of Verticillium pathogens, till now, the strategies for management of cotton Verticillium wilt were mainly depending on the breeding and cultivation of resistant varieties [56–58]. However, the underlying genetic and molecular mechanisms of cotton resistance to Verticillium infection remain to be poorly explored.
Evaluation of some cotton genotypes for resistance to Verticillium dahliae Kleb. under field conditions
2023, Plant Protection Bulletin (Turkey)Disease Resistance in Cotton
2022, Genomic Designing for Biotic Stress Resistant Technical Crops