The Influence of Environment on the Expression of Trichomes in Wheat1

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Abstract
Cereal leaf beetles (CLB), Oulema melanopus (L.), oviposited more eggs on ‘Downy’ winter wheat, Triticum aestivum L., than expected based on its previous classification as very resistant to the CLB. Within a field of Downy, beetles oviposited on those leaves with fewer and shorter trichomes. The trichome profile (length and density) of all leaves were determined for Downy grown in southwestern Michigan. Trichome profiles differed significantly between years for the same leaf number and between different leaves the same year. The flag leaf was not as resistant as the three leaves below it. The overall trichome profile was best estimated by samples from the mid‐region of the leaf. Trichome density of the seedling first leaf was positively correlated with leaf length and negatively correlated with soil moisture in laboratory studies. Trichome profiles of the first seedling leaf were positively correlated with temperature. Downy grown in the field in 1979 was rated between susceptible and moderately resistant (depending upon which leaf was rated).

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