Wide Hybridization of Linseed species to enhance resistance to Budfly and Alternaria blight using morphological characters and SSR markers

In the present study the parents, F1 crosses, and F2 individuals were screened on the field condition to evaluate resistance to budfly and alternaria blight in linseed. The parental lines included wild accessions exhibiting resistance and susceptibility to budfly and alternaria blight. EC-993391 and IC-633096, displayed minimal infestation (0), while others, like EC-993389, were more susceptible, with infestation levels reaching as high as 27.8 for bud fly and 21.88 for alternaria blight. Notably, the F1 hybrids T-397 × IC-633096 and T-397 × IC-633096 (treated with 0.15 mg/L in the shoot tip) displayed resistance to budfly and alternaria blight. Although, the overall F2 population was moderately susceptible to bud fly and alternaria blight, specific individual plants within this generation exhibited lower infestations, suggesting their potential as valuable pre-breeding materials. Molecular studies using identified specificSSR markers including “Lu 2853, Lu 2850, Lu 2840, Lu 2332,” which distinguished F1 hybrids derived from the cross between T-397 × EC-993389 from the parental lines. Besides molecular markers, morphological characteristics such as plant height, number of branches plant-1, capsule size, seed size, and 1000 seed weight were also assessed. Breeding strategies included the possibility of intermating selected F2 plants to preserve resistance to both budfly and alternaria blight while potentially disrupting undesirable linkages between different traits.