CBGG

Chinese jujube is one of the earliest domesticated fruit trees in the world. This fruit crop is becoming increasingly popular globally for its outstanding adaptability to marginal land and a broad range of climate conditions. There is a growing demand by growers and consumers for new cultivars with improved yields, earliness, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and fruit quality attributes. Breeding jujube for disease resistance is still in its infancy despite the consensus that disease is the top-ranking production constraint and growing disease resistant cultivars is the most sustainable and cost-effective approach for diseases management. Major knowledge gaps remain to be filled in the current breeding scheme for enhancing disease resistance. These knowledge gaps include, but are not limited to (1) a lack of understanding of jujube pathogens in terms of their taxonomy, epidemiology and genetic diversity; (2) a lack of standardized screening methods to identify host resistance; (3) a high rate of germplasm mislabeling; and (4) ineffective production of hybrid progenies. Nonetheless, recent progress in utilization of male sterile parents in controlled crosses, coupled with mounting genomic information on both pathogens and jujube, will likely speed up the combination of host resistance with other horticultural traits. This article reviews the status of jujube disease resistance breeding and suggests future research needs for developing disease resistant cultivars of Chinese jujube. Although the review focuses on jujube breeding programs in China, the summarized information should be useful to researchers in the international jujube community as well.

Chinese date; fruit tree; genebank; genetic diversity; red date