Tuesday, November 14, 2006
160-8

Inheritance of Hessian Fly Resistance in the Durum Wheat Line PI 134942.

Kristen D. Rinehart and Herb Ohm. Purdue Univ, Dept of Agronomy, 915 W. State St, West Lafayette, IN 47907

Hessian fly [(Mayetiola destructor (Say)] is an important insect pest of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in many wheat-growing areas of the world. Host plant resistance is an efficient and effective means of minimizing crop production losses due to this insect pest. The interaction of host resistance and Hessian fly virulence identified to-date is a gene-for-gene model. Thus, as new virulence becomes prevalent in the Hessian fly population, new resistance genes need to be identified and deployed in new wheat cultivars. Hessian fly resistance of the durum wheat line, PI 134942, was transferred to wheat by backcrossing to susceptible wheat lines and phenotyping for resistance, resulting in the spring wheat line P97211. PI 134942 and P97211 are resistant to all Hessian fly biotypes tested, including L, vir9, vir13, and Hessian fly populations collected from Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Maryland, and Delaware.  Therefore, this resistance is of significant value in wheat improvement for Hessian fly resistance. F2 families from the backcross D6647*2/PI 134942 and from the backcross Len*2/P97211 are being phenotyped for resistance to Hessian fly biotypes L, vir9 and vir13. D6647 and Len are susceptible to these three biotypes. The objective of this research is to determine the inheritance of Hessian fly resistance of PI 134942.