Microsatellite DNA Markers Indicate Quantitative Trait Loci Controlling Resistance to Pea Root Rot Caused by Fusarium avenaceum (Corda ex Fries) Sacc

To identify Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) controlling root rot resistance of field pea (Pisum sativum L.), 213 Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) were screened against a population of Recombinant Inbred Lines (RIL) derived from crosses between a moderately resistant cultivar Carman and a susceptible cultivar Reward. Phenotypic data were obtained following inoculation of pea plants with Fusarium avenaceum (Corda ex Fries) Sacc. in field experiments conducted during 2009 and 2010. Linkage analysis based on a single factor ANOVA indicated that four markers were associated with root rot resistance. QTL analysis based on these four markers identified a QTL on Chromosome VII that explained 21.7% of the variance in resistance. The microsatellite markers that are closely linked to this QTL may be useful for stacking QTLs from Carman and other resistance sources to develop cultivars with superior fusarium root rot resistance.