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Interest in the development of organically grown vegetable crops has risen over the past decades due to consumer preferences. However, most crops that have desirable consumer traits have been bred in conventional growing conditions, and their transfer to an organic setting is challenging. Here, the organically grown Hawaiian pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) accession ‘Shima’ was crossed with the conventionally grown Puerto Rican variety ‘Taina Dorada’ to develop a backcross (BC1) population, where ‘Shima’ was the recurrent parent. A total of 202 BC1 (‘Shima’ X F1) progenies were planted in a certified organic field, and twelve traits were evaluated. We used genotype-by-sequencing (GBS) to identify the Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) associated with insect tolerance along with commercially desirable traits. A total of 1582 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified, from which 711 SNPs were used to develop a genetic map and perform QTL mapping. Reads associated with significant QTLs were aligned to the publicly available Cucurbita moschata genome and identified several markers linked to genes that have been previously reported to be associated with that trait in other crop systems, such as melon (Cucumis melo L.). This research provides a resource for marker-assisted selection (MAS) efforts in Cucurbita moschata, as well as serving as a model study to improve cultivars that are transitioning from a conventional to an organic setting.

The relationship between susceptibility of different peach cultivars (cvs) to the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), Ceratitis capitata, and the volatile composition of ripe fruit of each cv has been investigated, since understanding the fruit-insect interaction mechanism is crucial for developing control strategies for such a pest. Volatile compounds were analyzed by SPME-GC-MS in three cvs highly susceptible to medfly attack (Fair Time, Flaminia, Sicilia Piatta), and in two less susceptible cvs (Percoca Romagnola 7 and Doctor Davis). Among the volatile compounds detected, 88 could be identified. The main differences found in the volatile composition of the cvs, concerned the relative abundance of esters. The least susceptible cvs, above all Percoca Romagnola 7, contained the higher amounts of hexenyl, hexyl, 3-methylbutyl, butyl and 2-methylpropyl esters; among these, some C6 derivatives detected, such as (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate, are known to act as priming agents, enhancing plant defence response to insects. Instead, a lower relative content of methyl esters, such as methyl hexanoate and methyl octanoate, known to act as medfly pheromone and attractant respectively, was found in the least susceptible cvs. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This research was carried out to selection of desirable cultivar for organic cultivation of carrot in Korea. The assay of disease resistance, insect tolerance and rate of bolting were investigated on 32 cultivars of genetic resources of carrot. This experiment was carried out at experimental field and greenhouse of Gangneung- Wonju National University. ``PI 223360`` was resistant against powdery mildew. Ten cultivars including ``Oxheart Carrot Heirloom`` were moderately resistant, 22 cultivars including ``Long Impeator #58`` were susceptible to powdery mildew. Although there was no resistant cultivar against black rot and leaf blight, our results showed that several cultivars have moderate resistance. Thirteen cultivars including ``Oxheart Carrot Heirloom`` were having insect (Erythroplusia pyropia) tolerance and ``SA 102`` and ``Scarlet Keeper Carrot Rare`` were susceptible. According to the investigation of bolting, 6 cultivars including ``Hongsim Ouchon Carrot`` were early bolting and 4 cultivars including ``Japanese Imperial Long Carrot`` were moderate bolting. Other cultivars were identified as late bolting. From above results, we confirmed that ``Oxheart Carrot Heirloom`` was suitable cultivar for organic cultivation among 32 genetic resources of carrot.