Viruses that mutate due to reasons such as climate change and pesticide use are spreading rapidly around the world. Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV), one of these viruses, was first detected in 2014 and spread rapidly. Chlorotic mosaics, wrinkling and deformation occur on tomato leaves, and yellow rings, brown and wrinkled spots are seen on fruits. ToBRFV has caused and continues to cause major economic damage to tomato production worldwide.
The most important preventive activity is to produce varieties that are resistant to virus infection through crossbreeding in order to prevent crop losses due to disease. This situation prompted Yüksel Tohum, a global seed company, to develop resistant varieties against ToBRFV.
Our experienced breeding team has been working on the selection of plants resistant to viral diseases for many years. More than 2000 parental lines and around 1000 new tomato varieties are analyzed each year by our expert researchers and breeding team in our laboratories. Thanks to the devoted work of our breeding plant and laboratory staff, a high degree of tolerance to ToBRFV has been identified in some lines in our seed genetic bank. The first tests in our laboratories were carried out with molecular markers and pathological tests. As a result of the breeding programs carried out with the lines with tolerance gene detected by our breeding team, varieties resistant to ToBRFV have been developed. Virus resistance of the developed cultivars was confirmed both in vitro and in greenhouse conditions. Finally, the durability of our developed varieties has been validated by conducting trials in the infected areas. PCR techniques were used to confirm the contamination of plants by the virus. At the same time, the agronomic performances of the cultivars were tested in different locations and were selected considering these criteria.
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Verifying the durability level of our varieties is a long but necessary process. As a result of all these studies, the varieties with the highest virus resistance and yield were selected and offered to you, our producers. The primary control method in virus-borne diseases is the selection of varieties with high disease resistance. So far, we have many varieties resistant to ToBRFV, which are in the commercial and registration phase in Turkey and abroad. New commercial varieties will be added each year.
Currently, our varieties with sales permit in Turkey; VITAMIN F1, MARGOL F1, ALKIM F1, MODA F1, JELIBON F1, SHOWCASE F1, SERADO F1, BOUTIQUE F1.
Sources
Yüksel Tohum