Advances in breeding for sweetpotato virus resistance in Uganda

Abstract

Six sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.( cultivars, 'Bwanjule,' 'New Kawogo,' 'Tanzania,' 'Tororo 3', ' Wagabolige'
and 'Sowola ' were officially released by the Variety Release Committee. These were the first sweetpotato cultivars to
be officially released in Uganda, where sweetpotato is an important food crop. The newly released cultiva rs, five of them
selections from the land race gcrroplasm, and one, 'Sowola' a newly-bred "·a riety, were seleded on the basis of consistently
superior yield performance and disease resistance in multiiOClltic>nal yield trials in Uganda, and their excellent
consumer acceptance in taste tests. Success in the release ofthcse s uperior. Running Title: Advances in breeding for
sweetpotato virus resitance in Uganda cultivars has depended a lot on effectively screening and breeding for sweetpotato
virus disease(SPVD) resistance. SPVD causes up to 98% storage root yield loss in Uganda. The procedures used to
make advances in breeding for SPVO resistance in Uganda have included germ plasm screening, polycross, modified
recurrent selection, using very Ia rgc base populations coupled with high selection rates, 0.2-11 "/v, and serologies I
tests to confirm the presence ofthe causal agents ofSPVD. Effor ts have been initiated to investigate the potential for
using molecular markers for detecting SPVD resistance.