Disease resistance refers to the ability of a plant to limit or withstand the infection and spread of a pathogen. It is an important trait in agriculture and crop production, as it enables plants to avoid or tolerate diseases that could otherwise significantly reduce yields.
There are two main types of disease resistance in plants:
Plants have various complex physical and biochemical mechanisms to defend themselves against pathogens such as fungi, bacteria, viruses, and nematodes. These include:
Breeding for increased disease resistance involves identifying genetic sources of resistance within crop gene pools and breeding these resistance (R) genes into elite crop varieties. This can be challenging as many R genes only provide vertical resistance that breaks down over time.
Key considerations around disease resistance in crops include:
Disease resistance continues to be a major focus area for public and private crop breeding programs around the world. Maintaining productive and sustainable agricultural systems relies on crops with sufficient durable disease resistance to avoid major yield losses while also meeting quality and yield expectations.
In summary, disease resistance refers to the genetic capacity of a crop plant to limit or tolerate infections by pathogens that cause disease. It is a key defensive trait deployed through various structural, chemical, and systemic mechanisms in the plant. Considerable efforts are underway to understand, identify, and breed enhanced disease resistance to support food security.