Michael Dossett, Agriculture and Agri-Food CanadaScientists have found three populations of black raspberries that are resistant to the disease-carrying large raspberry aphid.U.S. and Canadian researchers have found three black raspberries that have resistance to disease-carrying aphids.
With this new-found knowledge, breeders can develop varieties that are resistant to the large raspberry aphid, which carries black raspberry necrosis virus, according to a news release.
Chad Finn, an Agricultural Research Service horticulturist in Corvallis, Ore., and his counterpart, Michael Dossett of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, screened 132 wild black raspberries for aphid resistance.
They found one each from Ontario, Maine and Michigan.
Resistance in the Ontario and Maine populations were controlled by multiple genes, whereas the resistance in the Michigan population was controlled by a single gene.
Having multiple-gene resistance is important because it is much more difficult for a pest to overcome it than if it were single-gene resistance.
Breeding for aphid resistance has been an important tool for protecting red raspberries from viral infections, but this is the first report of aphid resistance in black raspberries, according to the release.
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