ISHS Acta Horticulturae 358: International Symposium on Alliums for the Tropics
THIRTY YEARS OF FRANCE' EXPERIENCE IN THE PRODUCTION OF DISEASE-FREE GARLIC AND SHALLOT MOTHER BULBS |
| Authors: | C.M. Messiaen, H. Lot, B. Delecolle |
| Abstract:
Thirty years ago in France, sanitary and clonal selection in garlic began for a cultivar which remained free of onion yellow dwarf virus (OYDV). Through meristem culture 10 years later, symptomless plants were obtained from cultivars in which virus infestation was 100%. Symptomless clones are multiplied by farmers following regulations on rotation, isolation from other allium crops, rouging diseased plants, and inspection of the plots, in order to attain mother bulbs free of virus symptoms, nematodes, and white rot. A similar system is used for multiplication of OYDV-free shallot clones. The complexity of the virological situation in these vegetatively propagated alliums was exposed through the use of the electron microscope. Only in 1981 was this situation fully understood for garlic, by the use of the immuno-electromicroscopy method. In some years, problems are caused by very early and numerous aphid flights. As a consequence, the first generations of multiplication are increasingly grown under insect-proof screenhouses. Annual French-certified mother-bulb production is about 2 500 tons for garlic and 400 tons for shallot. The partners of the research institute for this production scheme are cooperatives or farmers' associations. | |
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