High-throughput field screening of cassava brown streak disease resistance for efficient and cost-saving breeding selection

Cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) remains the most severe threat to cassava production in the Great Lakes region and Southern Africa. Screening for virus resistance by subjecting cassava to high virus pressure in the epidemic zone (hotspots) is a common but lengthy process because of unpredictable...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sikirou, M., Adetoro, N.A., Sheat, S., Musungayi, E., Musungangan, R., Pierre, M., Fowobaje, K.R., Dieng, I., Bamba, Z., Rabbi, I.Y., Mushoriwa, H., Winter, S.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: MDPI 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173680
_version_ 1855525047582588928
author Sikirou, M.
Adetoro, N.A.
Sheat, S.
Musungayi, E.
Musungangan, R.
Pierre, M.
Fowobaje, K.R.
Dieng, I.
Bamba, Z.
Rabbi, I.Y.
Mushoriwa, H.
Winter, S.
author_browse Adetoro, N.A.
Bamba, Z.
Dieng, I.
Fowobaje, K.R.
Mushoriwa, H.
Musungangan, R.
Musungayi, E.
Pierre, M.
Rabbi, I.Y.
Sheat, S.
Sikirou, M.
Winter, S.
author_facet Sikirou, M.
Adetoro, N.A.
Sheat, S.
Musungayi, E.
Musungangan, R.
Pierre, M.
Fowobaje, K.R.
Dieng, I.
Bamba, Z.
Rabbi, I.Y.
Mushoriwa, H.
Winter, S.
author_sort Sikirou, M.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) remains the most severe threat to cassava production in the Great Lakes region and Southern Africa. Screening for virus resistance by subjecting cassava to high virus pressure in the epidemic zone (hotspots) is a common but lengthy process because of unpredictable and erratic virus infections requiring multiple seasons for disease evaluation. This study investigated the feasibility of graft-infections to provide a highly controlled infection process that is robust and reproducible to select and eliminate susceptible cassava at the early stages and to predict the resistance of adapted and economically valuable varieties. To achieve this, a collection of cassava germplasm from the Democratic Republic of Congo and a different set of breeding trials comprising two seed nurseries and one preliminary yield trial were established. The cassava varieties OBAMA and NAROCASS 1 infected with CBSD were planted one month after establishment of the main trials in a 50 m2 plot to serve as the source of the infection and to provide scions to graft approximately 1 ha. Grafted plants were inspected for virus symptoms and additionally tested by RT-qPCR for sensitive detection of the viruses. The incidence and severity of CBSD and cassava mosaic disease (CMD) symptoms were scored at different stages of plant growth and fresh root yield determined at harvesting. The results from the field experiments proved that graft-infection with infected plants showed rapid symptom development in susceptible cassava plants allowing instant exclusion of those lines from the next breeding cycle. High heritability, with values ranging from 0.63 to 0.97, was further recorded for leaf and root symptoms, respectively. Indeed, only a few cassava progenies were selected while clones DSC260 and two species of M. glaziovii (Glaziovii20210005 and Glaziovii20210006) showed resistance to CBSD. Taken together, grafting scions from infected cassava is a highly efficient and cost-effective method to infect cassava with CBSD even under rugged field conditions. It replaces an erratic infection process with a controlled method to ensure precise screening and selection for virus resistance. The clones identified as resistant could serve as elite donors for introgression, facilitating the transfer of resistance to CBSD.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace173680
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2025
publishDateRange 2025
publishDateSort 2025
publisher MDPI
publisherStr MDPI
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1736802025-12-08T10:29:22Z High-throughput field screening of cassava brown streak disease resistance for efficient and cost-saving breeding selection Sikirou, M. Adetoro, N.A. Sheat, S. Musungayi, E. Musungangan, R. Pierre, M. Fowobaje, K.R. Dieng, I. Bamba, Z. Rabbi, I.Y. Mushoriwa, H. Winter, S. breeding screening grafting heritability cassava food security plant diseases Cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) remains the most severe threat to cassava production in the Great Lakes region and Southern Africa. Screening for virus resistance by subjecting cassava to high virus pressure in the epidemic zone (hotspots) is a common but lengthy process because of unpredictable and erratic virus infections requiring multiple seasons for disease evaluation. This study investigated the feasibility of graft-infections to provide a highly controlled infection process that is robust and reproducible to select and eliminate susceptible cassava at the early stages and to predict the resistance of adapted and economically valuable varieties. To achieve this, a collection of cassava germplasm from the Democratic Republic of Congo and a different set of breeding trials comprising two seed nurseries and one preliminary yield trial were established. The cassava varieties OBAMA and NAROCASS 1 infected with CBSD were planted one month after establishment of the main trials in a 50 m2 plot to serve as the source of the infection and to provide scions to graft approximately 1 ha. Grafted plants were inspected for virus symptoms and additionally tested by RT-qPCR for sensitive detection of the viruses. The incidence and severity of CBSD and cassava mosaic disease (CMD) symptoms were scored at different stages of plant growth and fresh root yield determined at harvesting. The results from the field experiments proved that graft-infection with infected plants showed rapid symptom development in susceptible cassava plants allowing instant exclusion of those lines from the next breeding cycle. High heritability, with values ranging from 0.63 to 0.97, was further recorded for leaf and root symptoms, respectively. Indeed, only a few cassava progenies were selected while clones DSC260 and two species of M. glaziovii (Glaziovii20210005 and Glaziovii20210006) showed resistance to CBSD. Taken together, grafting scions from infected cassava is a highly efficient and cost-effective method to infect cassava with CBSD even under rugged field conditions. It replaces an erratic infection process with a controlled method to ensure precise screening and selection for virus resistance. The clones identified as resistant could serve as elite donors for introgression, facilitating the transfer of resistance to CBSD. 2025 2025-03-18T08:21:21Z 2025-03-18T08:21:21Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173680 en Open Access application/pdf MDPI Sikirou, M., Adetoro, N.A., Sheat, S., Musungayi, E., Mungangan, R., Pierre, M., ... & Winter, S. (2025). High-throughput field screening of cassava brown streak disease resistance for efficient and cost-saving breeding selection. Agronomy, 15(2): 425, 1-15.
spellingShingle breeding
screening
grafting
heritability
cassava
food security
plant diseases
Sikirou, M.
Adetoro, N.A.
Sheat, S.
Musungayi, E.
Musungangan, R.
Pierre, M.
Fowobaje, K.R.
Dieng, I.
Bamba, Z.
Rabbi, I.Y.
Mushoriwa, H.
Winter, S.
High-throughput field screening of cassava brown streak disease resistance for efficient and cost-saving breeding selection
title High-throughput field screening of cassava brown streak disease resistance for efficient and cost-saving breeding selection
title_full High-throughput field screening of cassava brown streak disease resistance for efficient and cost-saving breeding selection
title_fullStr High-throughput field screening of cassava brown streak disease resistance for efficient and cost-saving breeding selection
title_full_unstemmed High-throughput field screening of cassava brown streak disease resistance for efficient and cost-saving breeding selection
title_short High-throughput field screening of cassava brown streak disease resistance for efficient and cost-saving breeding selection
title_sort high throughput field screening of cassava brown streak disease resistance for efficient and cost saving breeding selection
topic breeding
screening
grafting
heritability
cassava
food security
plant diseases
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173680
work_keys_str_mv AT sikiroum highthroughputfieldscreeningofcassavabrownstreakdiseaseresistanceforefficientandcostsavingbreedingselection
AT adetorona highthroughputfieldscreeningofcassavabrownstreakdiseaseresistanceforefficientandcostsavingbreedingselection
AT sheats highthroughputfieldscreeningofcassavabrownstreakdiseaseresistanceforefficientandcostsavingbreedingselection
AT musungayie highthroughputfieldscreeningofcassavabrownstreakdiseaseresistanceforefficientandcostsavingbreedingselection
AT musunganganr highthroughputfieldscreeningofcassavabrownstreakdiseaseresistanceforefficientandcostsavingbreedingselection
AT pierrem highthroughputfieldscreeningofcassavabrownstreakdiseaseresistanceforefficientandcostsavingbreedingselection
AT fowobajekr highthroughputfieldscreeningofcassavabrownstreakdiseaseresistanceforefficientandcostsavingbreedingselection
AT diengi highthroughputfieldscreeningofcassavabrownstreakdiseaseresistanceforefficientandcostsavingbreedingselection
AT bambaz highthroughputfieldscreeningofcassavabrownstreakdiseaseresistanceforefficientandcostsavingbreedingselection
AT rabbiiy highthroughputfieldscreeningofcassavabrownstreakdiseaseresistanceforefficientandcostsavingbreedingselection
AT mushoriwah highthroughputfieldscreeningofcassavabrownstreakdiseaseresistanceforefficientandcostsavingbreedingselection
AT winters highthroughputfieldscreeningofcassavabrownstreakdiseaseresistanceforefficientandcostsavingbreedingselection