Adult Sorghum Midge (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) Nonpreference for a Resistant Hybrid Sorghum

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Abstract
Adult density and oviposition of sorghum midge, Contarinia sorghieola (Coquillett), on a resistant and susceptible sorghum, Sorghum bicolor(L.) Moench hybrid, were assessed under field conditions at College Station, Tex., during 1983 and 1984. Approximately 33% more female midges visited flowering panicles of a susceptible hybrid than those of a resistant hybrid. Moreover, ca. 25% more female midges were collected on flowering panicles of either hybrid that had not previously been infested with midges compared with panicles that had already been exposed to midges. Number of eggs laid in spikelets by 20 caged females per panicle, or by naturally occurring females in the field, was from 4- to 5-fold greater for midges infesting a susceptible than a resistant hybrid. Differences in number of eggs and egg-infested spikelets of the two hybrids were consistent in a free-choice or no-choice situation. These results indicated that nonpreference for oviposition was much more important than nonpreference for adult visitation as a component of nonpreference resistance of the agronomically improved sorghum hybrid AT×2755 × T×2767.

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