OAR@ICRISATDirect and indirect influences of morphological variations on diseases, yield and qualityAPorta-PugliaauthorT WBretagauthorJ BBrouwerauthorM PHawareauthorS AKhalilauthorInterest in morphological variation in food legume species is increasing as plant breeders search for new variants to satisfy the adaptation requirements from new or changing environments or the needs of new end-users. Examination of evolutionary pathways often provides leads in understanding morphological or physiological variation, which may offer opportunities for exploitation in plant breeding. Variation has direct and indirect effects on yield stability and quality through several parameters acting within the plant and the crop. Traits affecting the development of the crop canopy or the seed, including for example photosynthate repartitions, can have an impact on yield, quality and diseases. Yet the information available is often incomplete for practical use or is very environment specific. Examples are given of the potential utilisation of genetic diversity conserved in different geographic areas as are available in lentils (pilosae types) and chickpeas (kabuli-desi introgression). The concept of quality in pulses is often dominated by morphological traits and the appearance of the seed. There are also instances where the morphological traits affect nutritional and processing quality, (e.g., the novel alleles at the loci controlling both seed shape and starch composition in pea or the gene for zero tannin in lentil). Where prospects are still remote for developing cultivars with high levels of resistance to important diseases, more emphasis needs to be put on other components of integrated disease management. Some plant characteristics, such as growth habit and canopy structure (modulated by sowing date, plant density, etc.), can contribute to control of diseases. However, experiments have shown that an increase in disease incidence due to increased plant density can be compensated for by a yield increase as is the case with chocolate spot and rust in faba bean. Of interest also are morphological traits, which can slow penetration by the pathogen, enabling the plant to deploy post-infection physiological mechanisms of resistance. Plant PathologyEntomology2000Kluwer Academic PublishersBook Section

For work being deposited by its own author: In self-archiving this collection of files and associated bibliographic metadata, I grant OAR@ICRISAT the right to store them and to make them permanently available publicly for free on-line. I declare that this material is my own intellectual property and I understand that OAR@ICRISAT does not assume any responsibility if there is any breach of copyright in distributing these files or metadata. (All authors are urged to prominently assert their copyright on the title page of their work.)

For work being deposited by someone other than its author: I hereby declare that the collection of files and associated bibliographic metadata that I am archiving at OAR@ICRISAT) is in the public domain. If this is not the case, I accept full responsibility for any breach of copyright that distributing these files or metadata may entail.

Clicking on the deposit button indicates your agreement to these terms.