A Laboratory Assay for Resistance to the Tobacco Hornworm in Lycopersicon and Solanum spp.1

Abstract
A laboratory procedure for assaying Lycopersicon spp. for resistance to the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta (L.) is described. Results from this procedure, which employed excised foliage from greenhouse grown plants and first instar hornworm larvae from a colony maintained in the laboratory on artificial diet, were similar to those obtained with intact plants, with field collected hornworm larvae, and with field grown resistant plants. The Lycopersicon hirsutum f. glabratum accessions PI 134417 and LA 407 were highly resistant to M. sexta. Resistance was manifest as a significant reduction in larval survival and in weight gained by survivors over a 72 hour period. The interplant variation in larval weight gains within accessions was highly significant, suggesting that most of the accessions tested were segregating for resistance to M. sexta.

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