Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Sugarbeet and Potato Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #226315
Title: Sugarbeet root maggot resistance of hybrids with a maggot resistant pollinator

Author
item Campbell, Larry
item NIEHAUS, WILLIAM - AMERICAN CRYSTAL SUGAR

Submitted to: Journal of Sugarbeet Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/10/2008
Publication Date: 6/1/2009
Citation: Campbell, L.G., Niehaus, W. 2008. Sugarbeet Root Maggot Resistance of Hybrids with a Maggot Resistant Pollinator. Journal of Sugarbeet Research. 45:85-97.

Interpretive Summary: Sugarbeet root maggot is a major insect pest of sugarbeet throughout much of North America. Host plant resistance is a potential alternative to the few chemical insecticides currently being used to control the root maggot. Germplasm lines with root maggot resistance have been identified but only minimal information on the resistance of hybrid cultivars created by crossing these lines with a susceptible parental line is available. This study compared the performance of four hybrids formed by crossing a root maggot resistant parent, F1015 with a susceptible female parent, and an adapted susceptible commercial hybrid, with and without insecticide. With insecticide, the yield of the susceptible commercial hybrid was 3.5 tons per acre greater than the root yield without insecticide. In contrast, the average root yield increase attributable to the application of insecticide for the four hybrids with F1015 as a parent was only 0.4 of a ton per acre. With insecticide, the root yield of the susceptible hybrid was equal to or greater than the root yield of the four resistant hybrids with insecticide; however, without insecticide, the yield of the susceptible hybrid was significantly lower than all the hybrids except one that also had a relatively low yield when insecticide was applied. These root yield and similar sucrose yield patterns indicated that when F1015 was used as the pollen parent of a hybrid the resulting hybrid would have substantial root maggot resistance. The results of this study were consistent with an earlier report involving different resistant hybrids; together they corroborate the potential of commercially useful sugarbeet root maggot resistant hybrids.

Technical Abstract: Sugarbeet root maggot (Tetanops myopaeformis) is a major insect pest of sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris) throughout much of North America. Host plant resistance is a potential alternative to the few chemical insecticides currently being used to control the root maggot. Germplasm lines with root maggot resistance have been identified but only minimal information on the resistance of hybrid cultivars created by crossing these lines with a susceptible cms parental line is available. This study compared the performance of four hybrids with a maggot resistant pollinator, F1015, and a susceptible commercial hybrid, with and without insecticide. With insecticide, the yield of the susceptible commercial hybrid was 7.8 Mg ha-1 greater than the root yield without insecticide. In contrast, the average root yield increase attributable to the application of insecticide for the four hybrids with F1015 as the pollinator was only 0.8 Mg ha-1. With insecticide, the root yield of the susceptible hybrid was equal to or greater than the root yield of the four resistant hybrids with insecticide; however, without insecticide, the yield of the susceptible hybrid was significantly lower than all the hybrids except one that also had a relatively low yield when insecticide was applied. These root yield and similar sucrose yield patterns indicated that when F1015 was used as a pollinator the resulting hybrid would have substantial root maggot resistance. The results of this study were consistent with an earlier report involving different resistant hybrids; together they corroborate the potential of commercially useful sugarbeet root maggot resistant hybrids.