Responses of Chilo partellus (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) and Busseola fusca (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) to Hybrids of a Resistant and a Susceptible Maize

• DOI: 10.1093/jee/86.3.962
• Publication Date: 2015-01-14T00:17:41Z
• Authors: Harish Kumar
• Keywords: 0106 biological sciences; 01 natural sciences

Two parental maize ( Zea mays L.) lines, a susceptible inbred ‘Inbred A’ and a resistant inbred ‘Mp704’, were evaluated along with their F 1 hybrids, ‘Mp704’ × ‘Inbred A’ and ‘Inbred-A’ × ‘Mp704’, for resistance to Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) and Busseola Fusca Fuller in a screenhouse. Factors reducing oviposition on ‘Mp 704’ in choice tests were not manifested in the one F1 hybrid tested. However, the antibiosis mode of resistance operating within the resistant parent ‘Mp704’ was generally expressed in the F1 hybrids. The resistant parent and the F1 hybrids showed significantly lower foliar damage ratings as well as stem damage than the susceptible parent against both stem borers under artificial infestation. Larval survival on the F1 hybrids was as low as on ‘Mp704’. As measured by nutritional indices, poor food utilization but high relative consumption rate on resistant ‘Mp704’ and low consumption rate but high food utilization on F1 hybrids resulted in slow development and low biomass gained by C. partellus and B. fusca on these cultivars.