Tolerance of first generation asparagus hybrids toFusariumspp. — a preliminary study

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Abstract
The severity of crown rotting, a symptom associated with infection by Fusarium spp., was recorded in three commercial hybrids of asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) — ‘Rutgers Beacon’, ‘Rutgers 201’, and ‘Jersey Centennial’ (‘Rutgers 202’) — and in 72 experimental single cross hybrids produced at Rutgers University, United States. The experimental hybrids were comprised of those where (a) both parents were selected for tolerance to Fusarium in the glasshouse and then in the field in high levels of inoculum (13 hybrids), (b) only the female parent was selected for Fusarium tolerance (13 hybrids), (c) only the male parent was selected for Fusarium tolerance (19 hybrids), and (d) neither parent was selected for Fusarium tolerance (27 hybrids). Plants were grown for 17 months in the field at two sites (Levin and Hastings). The severity of crown rot was then recorded. At both sites, the severity of crown rot was higher in the experimental hybrids where both parents had been selected for Fusarium tolerance than where only either male or female parent of an experimental hybrid had been selected for tolerance. The severity of crown rot in commercial hybrids was similar to many experimental hybrids. The production of single cross hybrids from parents selected for only one generation in the presence of a high level of Fusarium inoculum is, therefore, unlikely to be a satisfactory method of producing cultivars tolerant to infection.

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