Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Aug 1;11(15):2008.
doi: 10.3390/plants11152008.

Research Progress and Prospect of Alfalfa Resistance to Pathogens and Pests

Bo Yang  1 , Yao Zhao  2 , Zhenfei Guo  1
Affiliations
Review

Research Progress and Prospect of Alfalfa Resistance to Pathogens and Pests

Bo Yang et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

Alfalfa is one of the most important legume forages in the world and contributes greatly to the improvement of ecosystems, nutrition, and food security. Diseases caused by pathogens and pests severely restrict the production of alfalfa. Breeding resistant varieties is the most economical and effective strategy for the control of alfalfa diseases and pests, and the key to breeding resistant varieties is to identify important resistance genes. Plant innate immunity is the theoretical basis for identifying resistant genes and breeding resistant varieties. In recent years, the framework of plant immunity theory has been gradually formed and improved, and considerable progress has been made in the identification of alfalfa resistance genes and the revelation of the related mechanisms. In this review, we summarize the basic theory of plant immunity and identify alfalfa resistance genes to different pathogens and insects and resistance mechanisms. The current situation, problems, and future prospects of alfalfa resistance research are also discussed. Breeding resistant cultivars with effective resistance genes, together with other novel plant protection technologies, will greatly improve alfalfa production.

Keywords: R gene; alfalfa; molecular breeding; plant innate immunity; resistance mechanism.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Shi S., Nan L., Smith K. The current status, problems, and prospects of Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) breeding in China. Agronomy. 2017;7:1. doi: 10.3390/agronomy7010001. - DOI
    1. Liu Z., Zhou Q., Liu W., Zhang J., Xie W., Fang L., Wang Y., Nan Z. Some scientific issues of forage breeding in China. Acta Pratacult. Sin. 2021;30:184–193.
    1. Jin J., Wang T., Cheng Y., Wang L., Zhang J., JIing H., Chong K. Current situation and prospect of forage breeding in China. Bull. Chin. Acad. Sci. 2021;36:660–665.
    1. Yuan Q. Advances in alfalfa diseases in China. Plant Prot. 2007;33:6–10.
    1. Wang Y., Tyler B.M., Wang Y. Defense and counterdefense during plant-pathogenic oomycete infection. Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 2019;73:667–696. doi: 10.1146/annurev-micro-020518-120022. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources