Project Number: 5442-21220-023-47
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Jun 01, 2007
End Date: May 31, 2009

Objective:
1) Identify resistance to white mold in adapted common bean lines; 2) Assess the variation in common bean isolates of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.

Approach:
Multiple field location and laboratory and greenhouse screening tests will be used to determine white mold reaction of putative sources of resistance. These lines will be provided by breeders and pathologists from recombinant inbred line populations, interspecific hybridizations, introgressions from wild Phaseolus vulgaris, and breeding lines. Field plots will be located in areas of California, Oregon, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Idaho, and Washington with a history of white mold. Variations in common bean isolates of S. sclerotiorum will be assessed by determining mycelial compatibility groups of isolates from four bean growing areas in the U.S., and compare them with compatibility groups from white mold screening nurseries. The aggressiveness of S. sclerotiorum isolates will be determined by the straw test. The intraspecific variation in S. sclerotiorum field isolates collected at each screening trial site will be determined by the use of microsatellite-specific primers, using five to seven primer sets.