Evaluation of tomato parental lines for leaf curl disease resistance and its validation through molecular markers

The tomato leaf curl virus (ToLCV) is the most devastating viral disease of tomato. ToLCV is transmitted by whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Genn.) in a persistent and circulative manner. No viricides are available to combat the viral diseases and insect vectors had developed resistance against the various groups of insecticides. So, it becomes necessity to develop varieties and hybrids carrying genetic resistance. Fifteen entries comprised of eleven advanced breeding lines, two resistant and two susceptible checks were screened against tomato leaf curl Bangalore virus (ToLCBV) resistance in the greenhouse using natural vector whiteflies. Among fifteen entries five (IIHR-2852, IIHR-2919, IIHR-2913, IIHR-2902, and IIHR-2907) have shown a highly resistant reaction, two (IIHR-2853, Abhinav) have shown a resistant reaction, and other were either susceptible or highly susceptible in respect of disease reaction. Two molecular markers Ty-2 and Ty-3 linked to ToLCV resistance were validated with fifteen entries and a susceptible check as Punjab Chhuhara. Among these, two entries have shown the presence of both Ty-2 and Ty-3 genes for ToLCBV resistance. Punjab Chhuhara and 15-SB-SB did not show any presence of the Ty-2 and Ty-3 resistant alleles. Further, these resistance lines can be used to develop varieties/hybrids resistant to ToLCBV with better yield and quality attributes.