Screening recently identified whitefly/spider mite‐resistant wild tomato accessions for resistance to Tuta absoluta

The tomato leaf miner (Tuta absoluta) is a serious pest of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) in the tropics and subtropics. Previous World Vegetable Center studies identified selected accessions of S. galapagense, S. cheesmaniae and S. pimpinellifolium that were resistant to whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Genn.) and spider mite (Tetranychus urticae Koch). Here, we evaluated these accessions for resistance to T. absoluta based on the number of eggs from choice bioassays, and larval mortality and adults emerged percentages in no-choice feeding bioassays at WorldVeg Eastern and Southern Africa (WorldVeg) and the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe). At WorldVeg, S. galapagense VI063177 exhibited high resistance in both choice and no-choice bioassays. There was strong negative correlation between larval mortality and adults emerged percentages in the no-choice feeding bioassays. Results from the icipe experiments were consistent with those of the WorldVeg screening, except for S. pimpinellifolium accession VI030462, which was susceptible at icipe. Tuta absoluta is rapidly spreading and the resistance sources reported here will be valuable in breeding tomato varieties resistant to this insect and others.