Conventional and molecular breeding for broomrape resistance in sunflower

Abstract

Broomrape (Orobanche cumana Wallr.) is a flowering plant that significantly reduces the yield of sunflower and causes great economic losses. Genetic resistance, obtained by crossing cultivated sunflower with wild relatives, proved to be the most effective way to fight it, but because of the appearance of new races of the pathogen, it is necessary to find new sources of the resistance. Intensive research on the molecular level has focused on the development of specific DNA markers, in order to facilitate and accelerate the introduction of resistance into cultivated sunflower.