Inheritance of resistance to turnip mosaic virus in Chinese cabbage.

Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) is the most important virus of commercially grown cole crops in many Asian countries, affecting both yield and quality. TuMV-infected Chinese cabbage becomes unmarketable because of the presence of black spots and necrosis often induced by the virus. Resistance breeding is complicated by the existence of five strains of the virus, one of which was discovered in 1985 for the first time in Taiwan. Resistance to strains C1 to C3 is readily available among the Chinese cabbage germplasm at AVRDC, whereas resistance to strains C4 and C5 is rarely found. To elucidate the inheritance of resistance to TuMV, P1, P2, F1, F2 and BC1 generations of crosses between the resistant line ‘0–2’ and three susceptible lines, ‘E-7’, ‘E-9’ and ‘FL-9’, were inoculated with strains C4 and C5. Segregation ratios obtained by visual observation and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) indicate that two recessive genes confer resistance to both TuMV-C4 and TuMV-C5.