Searching for wheat resistance to aphids and wheat bulb fly in the historical Watkins and Gediflux wheat collections
2017
Insect pests can reduce wheat yield by direct feeding and transmission of plant
viruses. Here we report results from laboratory and field phenotyping studies
on a wide range of wheat, including landraces from the Watkins collection
deriving from before the green revolution, more modern cultivars from the
Gediflux collection (north-western Europe) and modern UK Elite varieties,
for resistance to the bird cherry-oat aphid, Rhopalosiphum padi (Homoptera:
Aphididae) and the English grain aphid, Sitobion avenae (Homoptera: Aphididae).
A total of 338 lines were screened for R. padi and 340 lines for S. avenae.
Field trials were also conducted on 122 Watkins lines to identify wheat bulb
fly, Delia coarctata, preference on these landraces. Considerable variation was
shown in insect performance among and within different wheat collections,
with reduced susceptibility in a number of varieties, but phenotyping did not
identify strong resistance to aphids or wheat bulb fly. Field trials showed within
collection differences in aphid performance, with fewer aphids populating lines
from the Watkins collection. This differs from development data in laboratory
bioassays and suggests that there is a pre-alighting cue deterring aphid settlement
and demonstrates differences in aphid preference and performance on
older plants in the field compared with seedlings in the laboratory, highlighting
the need for phenotyping for aphid resistance at different plant growth stages.
No association was identified between performance of the different insect
species on individual varieties, potentially suggesting different nutritional
requirements or resistance mechanisms.
Keywords:
- Correction
- Source
- Cite
- Save
- Machine Reading By IdeaReader
32
References
15
Citations
NaN
KQI