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Developing lettuce varieties with improved adaptability by decentral breeding
Project
Project code: 2810OE064
Contract period: 23.05.2011
- 28.02.2015
Budget: 247,232 Euro
Purpose of research: Applied research
The aim of the project was to develop lettuce of good product properties and a high adaptability to organic farming. Important breeding values were tolerance to dryness, ability to utilize nutrients, shooting stability, tipburn, resistance to pathogens, especially Bremia lactucae, and taste. The development of varieties should be achieved by selecting and cross-breeding methods considering the plants’ adaptability to their locations in decentral breeding. This was done by individual selecting largely homogeneous lettuce lines in four locations, and crossing new lines. Ten lettuce lines/varieties were tested in two growing sets compared with ‘Neckarriesen’ as the susceptible standard and ‘Analena’ as the resistant one. The best lines/varieties were compared locally to the original seeds in 2014 aiming to evaluate the adaptability. The adaptability of the tested lines/varieties was limited, for of crossings it was higher and more usable. Different results were achieved referring to the resistance to B. lactucae. While butterhead lettuce with mainly vertical resistance showed different reactions during the test period depending on the virulences occurred, Batavia lettuce was very stable when the developmental conditions for plants were optimal and the infection pressure was medium. Finally, as a result of the project, high quality, regionally differently suitable lettuce with considerably improved features can be provided for Kultursaat e. V. who will decide upon their application with the Bundessortenamt (German Federal Plant Variety Office). The offspring of the crossings were further developed by Oldendorfer Saatzucht.
Section overview
Subjects
- Plant Breeding
- Vegetable Gardening
- Genetic Resources
Framework programme
Federal Organic Farming Scheme and other forms of sustainable agriculture (BÖLN)
Funding programme
Excutive institution
Institute for Plant Protection in Horticulture and Forests (JKI-GF)