Differential response of resistant lines derived from the L . pimpinellifolium accession L3708 and L . hirsutum accession LA 1033 against different isolates of Phytophthora infestans in detached leaf lab assays Kim, M . J . , Mutschler, M . A . Dept . of Plant Breeding, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 The disease late blight (caused by the pathogen Phytophthora infestans ) is an increasingly significant problem to processing tomato production .   Transfer of resistance into processing tomato lines could materially reduce reliance on chemical sprays for control of this disease .   We are working with two potential sources of Late Blight resistance, L . hirsutum accession LA 1033 and the L . pimpinellifolium accession L3708 .   The first source is the L . hirsutum accession LA 1033 - 2, a sub - selection of LA 1033 created by Dr . R . Gardner, N . C .   These sources are reported to hold up to challenges by late blight in a number of locations .   In North Carolina, these sources of resistance have held up under conditions in which Hawaii 7998 source and the Ph2 gene fail (Gardner, per . comm . ) .   Dr R . Gardner had provided us with a series of cuttings of BC1F2 plants, each of which was derived from the cross (and subsequent backcross) of one of the resistance sources with the fresh market line NC215 - E, a VFF early blight tolerant elite fresh market line .   These plants were used in further backcrosses to processing tomato parents to transfer the resistance to processing lines fixed for resistance .   These lines were tested in lab assays using a series of isolates of the pathogen to determine if either of the sources of resistances is limited in utility by race specificity . Greenhouse grown plants were tested in the laboratory by detached leaflet droplet tests that were modified from those reported by Mizubuti and Fry (1998) .   In the detached leaflet droplet test method, tomato leaflets from the 3 - 4 th leaf from the tip were placed abaxial surface down on water agar plates .   Care was taken to choose flat leaflets .   Each leaflet was inoculated with two 20 m l drops of 30,000 sporangia/ml . (When 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 and 40,000/ml concentrations was pre - tested on susceptible plants, escape did not occur using the 30,000 and 40,000/ml concentrations) . The plates were incubated upside down at 18 ° C and 16hr light