Resistance of Chili Pepper Cultivars to Isolates of Phytophthora capsici

Resistance of one hundred commercialized cultivars of chili pepper to four isolates of Phytophthora capsici was evaluated under controlled environmental conditions. The cultivars are commercialized as resistant (59%) and susceptible (41%) to Phytophthora blight in Korea. Mean disease severities of the cultivars on P. capsici MY-1, KPC-1, JHAI1-7, and KPC-7 isolates were 37, 55, 60, and 74%, respectively. In addition, 38 for MY-1, 48 for KPC-1, 56 for JHAI1-7, and 76 cultivars for KPC-7 showed susceptibility. To P. capsici MY-1, the weakest pathogenicity isolate among them, 59 cultivars represented high resistance. By contrast, only six cultivars showed high resistance to P. capsici KPC-7, the strongest isolate. Furthermore, resistance of most cultivars except for three cultivars was negatively correlated with the virulence of P. capsici isolates. And isolate-specific resistance of the chili pepper cultivars could not be found. Among them, six cultivars showing resistance to all the tested isolates were selected for further study. The development of Phytophthora blight on the six cultivars according to inoculum density (5 x 10(4) to 1.5 x 10(6) sporangia/pot) and incubation temperature (25 to 30 degrees C) after inoculation of P. capsici was tested. Resistance of the cultivars to P. capsici KPC-1 and JHAI1-7, moderately pathogenic isolates, was hardly affected. But to KPC-7 isolate, the highly resistant cultivars showed susceptiblility or moderate resistance when the seedlings were inoculated with inoculum density of 1.5 x 10(6) sporangia/pot and incubated at 28 to 30 degrees C. From these results, it is likely that resistance of chili pepper cultivars to Phytophthora blight is affected by the virulence of P. capsici isolate.