RESPONSE OF Ty-RESISTANT TOMATO (Solanum lycopersicum) CULTIVARS TO BEGOMOVIRUSES AND THEIR GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS SPECTROMETERY ANALYSIS

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) production is affected by different diseases andTomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is the most prevalent and devastating begomovirus. Tyresistant cultivars were developed by Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC)Taiwan, using different combinations of Ty genes to observe pyramiding effects on resistance againstvarious Begomoviruses. Cultivars containing Ty genes were grown in glass house at 65% relativehumidity, 16 hours Dark and 8 hours Light, at 26 oC. At the age of 5 to 6 leaves, plants were exposed toviruliferous whitefly and were kept for ~40 days. Symptoms were observed every 10 days postexposure. Among nine Ty-resistant and one native (Nagina) cultivars, three were resistant i.e., R1, R6and R9, two mild to moderately resistant i.e., R2 and R10, three i.e., R7, R8 and R14 very mildresistant while one Ty cultivar i.e., R15 along with susceptible (Nagina) variety showed no resistance.Nagina (susceptible) and R6 (resistant) cultivars were analyzed by Gas Chromatography MassSpectrometry (GCMS). Among Ty cultivars (Ty-2, Ty-3 and Ty-5) genes harbouring cultivars showedbetter resistance and GCMS analysis lead to identification of bioactive compounds associated withresistant (R6) cultivar.