Determination of downy and powdery mildew resistance of some Vitis spp.

Abstract

The Black Sea region of Turkey receives an annual rainfall of 2000-2500 mm and viticulture in the region depends on the rainfall limits significantly. In this study, the resistance of eighty different Vitis species and cultivars/genotypes to downy and powdery mildew was assessed using Marker Assisted Selection coupled with inoculation observations. Six Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) and one Sequence Characterized Amplified Region (SCAR) markers were developed for different resistance loci (Run1, Rpv1, Ren1, Rpv3, Ren3) from different Vitis genetic resources. Eight of the cultivars/genotypes were characterised as resistant to downy mildew, seven were resistant to powdery mildew, and four were resistant to both diseases. These results, taken together with the disease inoculation observations, revealed ‘Köfteci Üzümü’ (Vitis labrusca) and ‘Giresun 3’ (Vitis labrusca) were the most resistant cultivars/genotypes.