The heritability of resistance to early blight in diploid potatoes (Solanum tuberosum,subsp.Phureja andStenotomum)

The heritability of resistance to early blight caused byAlternaria solani (Ell. & Martin) Son was estimated for field grown, diploid potatoes at Fletcher, North Carolina in 1981. Fourteen breeding lines, selected from a random mated hybrid population ofSolanum tuberosum, subsp.phureja andstenotomum, were used. Resistance was measured as the slope obtained by regressing the logit of the disease proportion Y, measured as % defoliation, on time. A wide range of resistance was found. Narrow-sense heritability, as determined by offspring-midparent regression, on an individual plant basis, was calculated to be 0.825.