A Century of Interspecific Hybridization and Introgression in Tobacco

This is the first comprehensive monograph dedicated to using Nicotiana species for tobacco genetic improvement. Unlike typical chapters constrained by size and scope, this book offers a detailed species-by-species analysis, with 27 tables providing relevant information. It marks a shift from focusing on specific topics to giving due attention to individual species. The review reflects on a century of exploiting Nicotiana species for usable germplasm and serves as an exhaustive guide to global literature on the subject, citing nearly 1000 literature items.

The review delves into the involvement of Nicotiana species in interspecific hybrids with cultivated tobacco, covering sexual and asexual methods, including grafting. It addresses challenges in hybridization, such as cross incompatibility, maternal phenotypes, interspecific incongruity, lethality, and sterility, providing methods to overcome these barriers. Records on disease resistance for each Nicotianae species are compiled, and mechanisms of introgression, barriers, and limitations are discussed. The book lists Nicotiana species as successful donors of cytoplasmic genetic factors leading to cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) and discusses negative effects of alien cytoplasm, providing a list of agronomically acceptable CMS sources. Controversial issues, including the identity of genetic accessions, are explored. The book concludes with an updated list of all reported interspecific combinations for Nicotiana.

Primarily aimed at scholars and students interested in the genus for genetic diversity, this book serves as a historical reference guide to the realized and potential uses of Nicotiana species in tobacco improvement.

Prof. Apoloniusz Berbeć’s research activities cover two principal fields: cytogenetics of interspecific Nicotiana hybrids and tobacco breeding. These two major areas complement and strengthen each other in his fundamental and applied studies. He and his associates have made several novel Nicotiana hybrids and re-examined a few others for their potential as sources of usable germplasm for cultivated tobacco. Under his scientific leadership several successful transfers of disease resistance factors from wild Nicotiana species to cultivated tobacco were made. Prof. Berbeć also shows a keen interest in the wild Nicotiana species as sources of cytoplasmic male sterility to be deployed in tobacco hybrid cultivars. At his research unit, he created a collection of cytoplasmically male sterile forms of tobacco. He has studied the alloplasmic accessions for their agronomic merits and expanded the collection by developing several novel alloplasmic combinations. 

Prof. Berbeć’s breeding strategies have drawn, directly or indirectly, on gene introgression and on deployment of cytoplasmic male sterility.  He has developed and released to farmers a number of tobacco cultivars, Poland’s first F₁ hybrids of flue-cured tobacco that combine introgressed monofactorial resistance to diseases and cytoplasmic male sterility for improved performance. Prof. Berbeć served, until his retirement in 2018, as full professor at the Institute of soil Science Plant Cultivation, State Research Institute in Puławy, Poland. Until 2023, he was also editor in-chief of the Polish Journal of Agronomy. In the capacity of plant breeder and agronomist, he continues working part-time for his research establishment.