Germplasm Enhancement and Identification of Loci Conferring Resistance against Plasmodiophora brassicae in Broccoli

In order to breed broccoli and other Brassica materials to be highly resistant to clubroot disease, 41 Brassicaceae varieties were developed and identified between 2020 and 2021. Seven known clubroot genes were used for screening these materials. In addition, the resistant and susceptible broccoli cultivars were designed for observing their differences in the infection process with Plasmodiophora brassicae. The results showed that 90% of total materials had carried more than two clubroot resistance genes: one material carried two disease resistance genes, four materials carried seven genes for clubroot resistance, two materials carried six genes for clubroot resistance, and in total 32% of these materials carried five genes for clubroot resistance. As a result, several new genotypes of Brassicaceae germplasm were firstly created and obtained based on distant hybridization and identification of loci conferring resistance against Plasmodiophora brassicae in this study. We found and revealed that similar infection models of Plasmodiophora brassicae occurred in susceptible and resistant cultivars of broccoli, but differences in infection efficiency of Plasmodiophora brassicae also existed in both materials. For resistant broccoli plants, a small number of conidia formed in the root hair, and only a few spores could enter the cortex without forming sporangia while sporangia could form in susceptible plants. Our study could provide critical Brassica materials for breeding resistant varieties and new insight into understanding the mechanism of plant resistance.