Evaluation of Sugarcane Seedlings for Resistance to the Sugarcane Borer, Diatraea saccharalis1

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Abstract
Seedling progeny from several sugarcane crosses were evaluated for host plant resistance to Diatraea saccharalis (F.) by artificially infesting plants with 1st-stage larvae. Adequate distribution of larvae among plants could not be obtained by infesting one centrally located seedling in series grown in flats. For this reason each seedhling was individually infested with known numbers of larvae. Three successive infestations at a rate of 2 larvae per plant eliminated more than 90% of the seedlings tested. More than 50% of the larvae were recovered during dissection of seedlings. Percentages of selection among different crosses, based on seedling elimination, ranged from 0.0% to 5.4%. The degree of seedling elimination was closely correlated with resistance or susceptibility of parental varieties except in one cross. The seedling-selcction technique appears useful as an efficient means of screening large amounts of sugarcane germ plasm, but its validity remains in doubt until the performance of the seedlings selected can be evaluated in varietal field trials.

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