Disease Resistance in Chickpea - Translational Genomics for Crop Breeding: Biotic Stress - page 214

are being made to find molecular markers associ-
ated with resistance in minor diseases to improve
pyramiding genes in breeding programs.
However, chickpea molecular breeding for
biotic stresses still has some limitations. Not
all the genes or QTLs for major diseases have
been finely mapped and new sources of resis-
tance remain to be genotyped. Markers cur-
rently targeting resistance genes or QTLs (Table
11.1) are mostly of the microsatellite type, but
high-throughput SNP genotyping platforms are
overtaking SSR as the marker type of choice
for screening germplasm collections (Zhu et al.
2008). Minor diseases have been scarcely stud-
ied and require much more attention, as is the
case with root-rot diseases, because of the dif-
ficulty in resistance screening and in differen-
tiating the effect of various resistance sources.
The lack of genetic variability in the cultivated
species requires chickpea breeders to use wild
Cicer species, which contain a higher degree
of resistance to many stresses. Unfortunately
most of the resistance sources are present in the
secondary and tertiary gene pools. Transferring
resistance and desirable gene complexes from
unexploited wild annual species to cultivated
species by hybridization is often confronted with
reproductive barriers, which may be overcome
by using novel biotechnological approaches. In
addition, further insights into the genetic bases
of virulence, resistance mechanisms, and plant-
pathogen interactions are required in order to
increase the efficacy in breeding for biotic stress
in chickpea.

Development Corporation (GRDC), Australia.
Authors are indebted to Dr. C. Chinoy for her
valuable comments on this edition.

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Acknowledgments

This research was developed at the University
of Cordoba and Instituto de Investigaci on y
Formaci on Agraria y Pesca (IFAPA), Cordoba,
Spain, and supported by the Spanish Min-
isterio de Ciencia e Innovaci on (MICINN;
project RTA2010-00059), co-financed by Fondo
Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER).
Work on ascochyta blight and fusarium wilt at
ICARDA is supported by Grains Research and