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ARS Home » Midwest Area » West Lafayette, Indiana » Crop Production and Pest Control Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #408879
Research Project: Genetic and Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Plant-Insect Interactions in Cereal Crops

Location: Crop Production and Pest Control Research

Title: Untapped sources of dual resistance to Hessian fly and greenbug in synthetic hexaploid wheats

Author
item Subramanyam, Subhashree
item Bockelman, Harold
item SARDESAI, NAGESH - Corteva Agriscience

Submitted to: Plants
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/13/2023
Publication Date: 11/17/2023
Citation: Subramanyam, S.N., Bockelman, H.E., Sardesai, N. 2023. Untapped sources of dual resistance to Hessian fly and greenbug in synthetic hexaploid wheats. Plants. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12223883.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12223883

Interpretive Summary: Hessian fly and greenbugs are two major pests of wheat plants causing severe economic losses worth billions of dollars, within US and globally. Planting wheat lines that show native resistance to these pests has been the most economical, environment-friendly, and effective strategy. However, the available resistant cultivars that can combat different forms (technically called as ‘biotypes’) of Hessian fly and greenbug are limited and evolution of insects to more virulent forms poses a serious threat to wheat production. To meet these challenges, there is need to identify new Hessian fly and greenbug resistant cultivars that can be used by wheat farmers and breeders to mitigate the economic impacts posed by these insect pests. In this study, we evaluated 80 wheat lines and identified 36 wheat lines that are resistant to both Hessian fly and greenbug independently, with 27 wheat cultivars showing combined resistance to both these cereal pests, and a few showing resistance to multiple forms of Hessian fly. These wheat lines identified are valuable resources for use in breeding programs to develop insect-resistant wheat lines to stack multiple additional disease resistance traits against some other pests and pathogens.

Technical Abstract: The Hessian fly (Hf) and greenbugs (Gb) are major pests of wheat causing severe economic losses, globally. Deploying resistant wheat is the most effective strategy to manage these destructive in-sects. However, the resistance is not effective against all Hf or Gb biotypes and can impose selection pressure on insects resulting in development of virulent biotypes. These challenges must be met through the discovery of new and novel sources of resistance to these pests. Synthetic Hexaploid Wheat (SHW) developed cultivars are a rich source of resistance against a diverse array of pathogens and pests. In this study, 80 SHW lines were evaluated for their resistance to Hf and Gb under controlled environmental conditions. Of these, a total of 36 SHW lines showed resistance independently to Hf biotype L and Gb biotype E, while 27 lines showed combined resistance to both Hf and Gb. Further, a subset of 12 SHW lines showed resistance to additional Hf biotypes, Great Plains and vH13. The identification of SHW lines resistant to multiple insects and biotypes offers an invaluable resource to breeders who are looking to stack resistance traits to develop elite cultivars as a strategy to alleviate economical impacts to global wheat production.