There is a great need to improve ‘Carabao’ mango since its susceptibility to diseases results in low yield and poor quality of mango fruits. Molecular marker-assisted breeding has been instrumental in the development of new varieties in many crops. In this regard, a project on improvement of ‘Carabao’ Mango Production and Fruit Quality through Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) Identification for Scab and Stem-end Rot Resistance was implemented by the University of Southern Mindanao (USM). It aims to generate molecular markers associated with scab and stem-end rot in mango using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for utilization in marker-assisted breeding in ‘Carabao’ mango.
Initial findings of the study include the establishment of a mango nursery for inoculation of the causal pathogen of scab where a total of 583 seeds were sown and transplanted into polyethylene bags. Geotagging and phenotyping of test trees and isolation of causal pathogens of stem-end rot and scab were also done.
