CHARACTERIZATION AND CONSERVATION OF EMILIA ROMAGNA MAIZE LANDRACES

The project aims at the characterization and conservation of regional maize landraces. Genetic material, consisting of 32 accessions, was retrieved both from recent surveys in Emilia Romagna, 11 accessions, and from the germplasm bank of CREA-MAC (Bergamo), 21 accessions. In particular, these last samples derive from the whole Italian collection of maize landraces carried out in the 50\u2019s by Brandolini and Fenaroli. In the first two years of the project, we carried out the landrace census and field characterization of the different materials according to UPOV guidelines and prepared, for each accession, a descriptive sheet. For each landrace, 100 seeds were sown and, from each plant, leaf samples were collected for DNA analysis. Approximately 2,000 plants, around 60 plants per landrace, were sampled. Each landrace is maintained in field by controlled randomintermating. For genetic analyses, 80 SSR markers were tested to identify the 10 most polymorphic to be used for the genetic characterization of all samples. . In parallel to these activities, an agronomic trial has been set up with the 32 landraces on four replicates to investigate production potential and resistance to mycotoxigenic fungi, with a special focus on Fusarium verticillioides. Considering that landraces can be exploited in conditions of low input agriculture, one of the objectives of the project is the identification of the best performing landraces suitable for cultivation nowadays (with a particular interest at mountain and disadvantaged areas). With this purpose, seeds, obtained from the propagation carried out in the first year, were distributed to partner farms and fields have been set-up in different hilly and mountainous areas of the region Emilia Romagna. These fields are presently underway with the double aim to evaluate the landraces in low input conditions and to propagate seeds for the future cultivation. The work was supported by PSR 2014- 2020, Emilia Romagna Region

Difendersi dalla retrogradazione a salvaguardia dei redditi bieticoli

Il progressivo calo della polarizzazione da fine agosto alla raccolta rappresenta un serio problema. Irrigazione per eliminare stress idrici, difesa anticercosporica e scelta varietale sono gli interventi che maggiormente influiscono su questo fenomeno così dannoso alla bieticoltura

Mosaico comune, ecco le varietà resistenti.

Il comportamento di oltre cento varietà di frumento tenero rispetto al virus del mosaic

Reaction of thirty-four durum wheat cultivars to Soil-borne cereal mosaic virus in 2007.

Thirty-four cuultivars of durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf) were grown during 2006/07 in a field with Soil-borne cereal mosaic virus in Italy, near Bologn

Reaction of thirty-four durum wheat cultivars to Soil-borne Cereal Mosaic Virus.

Soil-borne cereal mosaic virus (SBCMV) in Italy was first detected in the Po Valley in 1960, and is now known be widespread throughout most of the country, particularly in the northern and central regions. Thirty-four durum wheat cultivars were grown during 2006/07 in a field with SBCMV at Cadriano, near Bologna, and evaluated for resistance to SBCMV on the basis of symptom severity, DAS-ELISA readings and agronomic performance. Seventeen of these cultivars had never been tested for SBCMV resistance before. The cultivars, planted November 6 (2006), were grown in 10 m2 solid-seeded plots, distributed in the field according to a randomized block design with three replicates. Symptom severity was evaluated on two dates using a 0-4 scale. DAS-ELISA was performed on extracts from a bulk of the apical half of the second and third youngest leaves of 10 randomly chosen plants / plot collected February 21 and March 12 (2007). Cultivar Saragolla remained symptomless throughout the entire season, showed the 2nd lowest mean ELISA value, and produced the highest grain yields. Cultivars Dylan, Dario and Hathor too had relatively low mean ELISA values (≤ 0.389) and very low symptom scores (≤ 0.4); the latter two cultivars, however, produced decidedly low yields - as did other relatively SBCMV-resistant wheats (i.e. Orfeo, Catervo and K26) - possibly due to adverse factors different from SBCMV. In cultivars Meridiano and Neodur mild symptoms and high grain yields were accompanied by high ELISA values; this was not expected in that foliar extracts from these two cultivars had given ELISA values close to zero - even under severe disease pressure - in nine previous experiments carried out at a different site near Bologna. Cultivars Duilio and Iride, showing mild symptoms and previously classified as moderately resistant, also showed unexpectedly high ELISA values. The correlation between mean ELISA value and mean symptom score was highly significant (0.772**), and the same was found for the correlations between mean symptom score and heading date (0.504**), plant height (-0.704**), thousand-kernel weight (-0.614**) and grain yield (-0.719). Regression analysis indicated that the effects of SBCMV on grain yield, kernel weight, plant height and heading date were ruinous on the most susceptible cultivar