In vitro selection: A candidate approach for disease resistance breeding in fruit crops

In vitro selection for disease resistance in fruit crops is a biological phenomenon involving interaction between host-pathogen and additive effects of abiotic factors favoring the disease development. Among several strategies developed for disease resistance breeding, which are long term methods especially for perennials, a comparatively simpler and easier method is tissue culture based technique of selection of somaclonal variants against specific pathogen or phytotoxin. In vitro selection of plantlets regenerated in a culture media amended or supplemented with varying concentration of the culture filtrate or fractionated toxin of the specific pathogen serves as an efficient technique because of easy screening and reducing breeding cycle for developing disease resistance lines. In the past few decades, several researchers have worked out the possibility of obtaining somaclonal variants resistant to specific pathogenic race causing disease. Hence, in vitro selection strategy is a candidate alternative for conventional breeding approach for disease resistance. This review study gives an overview on prospects of in vitro selection for disease resistance with special reference to fruit crops.