Among the practices recommended for apple scab (Venturia inaequalis) control, the use of genetically resistant cultivars is of great importance in integrated management programs, in which restrictions to fungicide use are common. In this study we used multivariate analysis techniques to identify variables useful in apple breeding programs for detecting partial resistance to V. inaequalis and to rank cultivars for this resistance type. A collection of ten old apple cultivars from propagative material 35 to 50 years old was evaluated for partial resistance to the pathogen. CNPUV-09 and CNPUV-04 had levels of resistance similar to that of cultivar Prima, the standard resistant cultivar. The stroma and apressorium (ST + AP) formation and sporulation (ESP) of the pathogen after a foliar inoculation by conidial suspension were the largest eigenvectors of the first and second principal components, and contributed with 23.9% and 28.5% of the total variance, respectively. ST + AP and ESP were highly correlated with first and second axes. These variables could be useful in apple breeding programs to select cultivars with partial resistance to V. inaequalis.
Cluster analysis; infection structures; ordination; sporulation
