Breeding for Disease Resistance— Conventional Breeding

The most effective method of disease management is the use of diseaseresistant plant varieties. This can be highly cost-effective, and growers need not spend anything to manage the diseases. Several genes are involved in conferring disease resistance in plants. Several types of genetic resistance have been reported. These resistances are described here. Epistasis, additive effect, and interactive effect of clusters of resistance genes have been reported. Molecular markers linked to resistance genes were developed and they are now used for selection of resistant plants from segregating populations of crosses. Various methods of breeding for disease resistance are described.