VIEW ARTICLE

Resistance to Verticillium Wilt in Cotton: Sources, Techniques of Identification, Inheritance Trends, and the Resistance Potential of Multiline Cultivars. Stephen Wilhelm, Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Berkeley 94720; James E. Sagen(2), and Helga Tietz(3). (2)(3)Staff Research Associate, and Assistant Specialist, respectively, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Berkeley 94720. Phytopathology 64:924-931. Accepted for publication 9 January 1974. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-64-924.

Greenhouse inoculation and field tests have identified sources of resistance to Verticillium wilt in Gossypium barbadense and G. hirsutum and to a lesser extent in G. arboreum and G. herbaceum. Reaction to wilt in G. barbadense ranges from near immunity against fungal vascular invasion to moderate susceptibility; and in G. hirsutum, from minimal resistance to high susceptibility. In resistance, F₁ plants of the cross [resistant G. barbadense × susceptible G. hirsutum] are always intermediate between the parents. Resistance is associated with the capacity of infected plants to recover and to escape infection of leaves. The potential of controlling Verticillium wilt of cotton by synthesis of genetically variable multiline cultivars derived from pedigreed wilt-resistant parents is presented.