SELECTION FOR RESISTANCE TO SCLEROTIUM ROLFSII IN ACCESSIONS OF SOLANUM LYCOPERSICUM VAR. CERASIFORME IN WESTERN MEXICO

The tomato crop is of great importance for Mexico as it is the main export crop. Although our country is considered as the center of domestication of this vegetable and is genetically rich, especially for the wild species Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme, the genetic potential has not been tapped. We are developing a project to collect and characterize wild material of this species and contribute to their understanding. One of the main problems is tomato diseases, as in the case of southern blight, which causes severe losses to producers. The fungal pathogen causing southern blight Sclerotium rolfsii is widely distributed in the western region of the country. The objective of this work was to search for sources of resistance to S. rolfsii. Forty two accessions of wild tomato, which were artificially inoculated by placing one fungal sclerotia alongside the stem and assessed for susceptibility only accessions classified with numbers 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 from different places, exhibited resistance while the rest were damaged by the pathogen causing plant death.