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Breeding of fire blight-tolerant fruit varieties
The ZUEFOS project (Breeding of fire blight-tolerant fruit varieties) is one of four projects authorised by the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG) as part of the political campaign "More research into fruit growing" at the beginning of 2008.
Project duration: March 2008 - December 2011
Project management: Markus Kellerhals, ACW.
ACW project team: Andrea Patocchi, Brion Duffy, Simon Egger, Jürg Frey, Danilo Christen
ACW employees and postgraduates: Teresa Koller (6. 2008 to 1. 2009), Isabelle Baumgartner (50 % since 3. 2009), Maxie Hubert (30%, to end of 2009), Lucie Franck (20%), Pierre-Marie LeRoux,
Project partners: Lubera AG and Fruture GmbH: Markus Kobelt, Beat Lehner, ;ETH Zurich: Prof. Cesare Gessler; VariCom GmbH, Michael Weber.
Aim
Breeding of fire blight-tolerant apple and pear varieties. The project promotes the development and practical use of fire blight-tolerant pipfruit varieties. Swiss apple and pear breeders wish to develop fire blight-tolerant varieties to market readiness more quickly and efficiently
Project implementation:
The project is divided into 4 different modules with complementary themes
Module 1 Breeding
- Classic breeding methods are used by ACW and Lubera
- Various national and international breeding activities in relation to fruit quality and fire blight resistance are used as the basis
- Fire blight resistance tests (shoot susceptibility) are performed at ACW and at the Julius Kühn Institute in Quedlinburg (GER)
Module 2 Markers and marker-assisted selection (MAS)
- Fire blight tolerance depends on different genes with partial effect (Quantitative Trait Loci QTLs
- Further fire blight resistance QTLs will be identified
- With marker-assisted selection (MAS) even young seedlings can be tested for genetic characteristics
- Markers are developed, which are close to the resistance QTL
Module 3 Acceleration of the generation cycle
- From crossing through to harvesting the first fruit takes at least 4-5 years
- Cutting-edge procedures are used to shorten the generation time
- New resistance sources from wild apples are used and the fruit quality can be quickly improved
Module 4 Varieties
- Fire blight-tolerant apple and pear varieties and breeding numbers from ACW's own Program and from abroad are already available
- These are subjected to in-depth testing with pilot orchards at four locations (Wädenswil, Güttingen, Conthey, Morges) for cultivation and market value
Challenges
- To cultivate fire blight-tolerant apple and pear varieties with high market relevance within a short time
- To integrate new resistance sources and shorten generation time
- To develop marker-assisted selection so that it can replace costly fire blight testing in the greenhouse
- To offer and communicate practicable and quickly applicable contributions for solving the fire blight problem
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