Importance of Plant Senescence on Grain Sorghum Resistance to the Banks Grass Mite (Acari: Tetranychidae)

Abstract
The importance of senescence on sorghum resistance to the Banks grass mite (BGM), Oligonychus pratensis (Banks), was studied. Three senescing (‘TX09’, ‘TX7000’, and ‘BTX2752’) and three nonsenescing lines (‘SC599-6’, ‘B35’, and ‘BK59’) were used to evaluate the effect of sorghum senescence on BGM resistance. The results demonstrated that nonsenescence was not directly related to BGM resistance by sorghum. ‘SC599-6’ (nonsenescent) had the fewest mites and lowest damage during this study.