ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of marker-assisted breeding for disease resistance in legume vegetable crops. General principles of disease prevention and control include the basic cultural methods such as crop rotation, burning of infected residues of earlier crops, roguing of affected plants, adjusting the date of sowing, and the use of certified planting material and well-rotted manures. The alternative method is to raise crop varieties with acquired or inherited resistance. The development of cultivars with improved resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses is a primary goal of crop breeding programs throughout the world. Legumes play an important role in cropping systems by enhancing crop diversification and soil fertility through atmospheric nitrogen fixation. However, the cultivation of vegetable legumes is highly affected by several biotic and abiotic factors, such as diseases, insect pests, drought, low soil fertility, and poor crop management.
