VIEW ARTICLE

Inheritance of Tolerance to Erwinia carotovora in Florida MH-1 Tomato. Jerry A. Bartz, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611; J. P. Crill(2), and C. A. John(3). (2)Petoseed Research Center, Woodland, CA 95695; (3)H. J. Heinz Research Dept., 103 Colonial Ave., Cleveland, MS 38732. Phytopathology 65:1146-1150. Accepted for publication 8 May 1975. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-65-1146.

Tolerance of fruit from certain tomato lines to bacterial soft rot was found to be tolerance to Erwinia carotovora. The tolerance to E. carotovora reported for cultivar Florida MH-1 (MH-1) came from the Heinz-3 (H-3) parent. The fruit from an F₁ of a Walter × MH-1 cross were as tolerant as those from the tolerant parent, MH-1. Fruit from the F₁, F₂, P₁ and P₂ of a cross between the tolerant lines MH-1 and H-3 were equally tolerant by a short-term decay method of evaluation. However, differences existed when a new rating system, index of survival, was used. H-3 was more tolerant than MH-1 or the F₂ and the F₁ was more tolerant than the F₂. Index of survival values were applied to individual F₂ plants from the MH-1 × H-3 cross; and, in another season, to plants of the F₂ generation from H-3 × Walter, Walter × H-3, H-3 × MH-1, and MH-1 × Walter crosses. The index of survival values from the F₂ plants from the reciprocal cross H-3 × Walter and Walter × H-3 were tested for homogeneity of distribution and were not significantly different, P = 0.10. The values for the F₂ plants from the latter cross and the MH-1 × Walter crosses were distributed normally (P = 0.75-0.90) while those from the combined H-3 × MH-1 and MH-1 × H-3 and the MH-1 × H-3 from the first season did not seem to fit a normal distribution, P = 0.25 and 0.10, respectively. Tolerance to E. carotovora in inoculated tomato fruit is a polygenically controlled characteristic in which dominance is complete or nearly so.