Resistance to multiple cereal aphids in wheat–alien substitution and translocation lines

Abstract

Rhopalosiphum padi, Schizaphis graminum, and Sitobion avenae are three of the most destructive aphid species of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). They can significantly reduce wheat yields directly by feeding and indirectly by transmitting viruses. This study aimed to search for resistance to these aphid species among lines derived from different rye (Secale cereale) origins and from Aegilops speltoides, all in the genetic background of the wheat cultivar Pavon F76. Resistance was quantified as aphid weight (R. padi, S. avenae, S. graminum), and number of aphids and percentage of infested leaf area exhibiting chlorosis (S. graminum). The most resistant genotypes reduced R. padi and S. avenae weight by 24.2% and 34.3%, respectively, at the seedling stage, compared to Pavon F76 control plants. Strong S. graminum resistance was found only in Ae. speltoides-derived lines, the most resistant of which (7A.7S-L5) sustained just 3% chlorosis and reduced S. graminum colony weight by 67.7%. One line carrying the 1AL.1RS am wheat-rye translocation from Amigo wheat (originally from Insave rye) reduced S. avenae weight by 23.2 and 21.8% in seedling and adult plants, respectively. Single genotypes carrying the complete 1R chromosome or the 1RS chromosome arm derived from E12165 wheat and Presto triticale proved to be resistant to both R. padi and S. avenae at the seedling stage. Further research should be conducted to unravel the genetic basis of resistance to these aphids in 1RS genotypes. The sources of resistance identified here may be useful for incorporating multiple aphid species resistance in wheat breeding programs, particularly for R. padi and S. avenae, to which no resistant wheats have been bred.

Field population development of bird cherry-oat aphid and greenbug (Hemiptera: Aphididae) on wheat-alien substitution and translocation lines

“…Dewar (1977) and Leather and Dixon (1984) had previously shown that individual aphid weight and mean relative growth rate are highly correlated to the number of offspring per female and the intrinsic rate of population increase. Under controlled conditions we found significant reductions in R. padi and S. avenae weights in genotypes carrying the 1R or 1RS chromosome arm of certain rye origin, whereas we only observed resistance to S. graminum in recombinantderived genotypes from A. speltoides (Crespo-Herrera et al 2013).…”

“…This genotype was previously identified as highly resistant to S. graminum in glasshouse tests, giving smaller aphid colonies and less feeding site chlorosis compared with Pavon F76 (Crespo-Herrera et al 2013). Because of its origin, this genotype is likely to carry the Gb5 S. graminum resistance gene identified in the 7L chromosome from A. speltoides (Dubcovsky et al 1998).…”

“…Four of these lines ((1B)1R e , 1AL.1RS am , 1AL.1RS e , (1D)1R pr ) carry a complete 1R chromosome or 1RS chromosome arm from S. cereale and one (7A.7S-L5) is an A. speltoides recombinant derived line (Lukaszewski 1997;Dubcovsky et al 1998;Lukaszewski 2006). In our previous tests these lines showed different responses for resistance to S. graminum, R. padi, and S. avenae under controlled conditions (Crespo-Herrera et al 2013). Pavon F76 was included as a control.…”

“…In the case of R. padi, resistance has been found in triticale (x Triticosecale Wittm. ), triticale-derived wheat lines (Hesler 2005;Hesler and Tharp 2005;Hesler et al 2007;Crespo-Herrera et al 2013), and various Agropyrum spp.-wheat hybrids (Tremblay et al 1989), but none of these sources has been exploited in breeding R. padi-resistant germplasm resulting in cultivars.…”

“…In the present study we evaluated plant materials that we had previously assessed for resistance to R. padi, S. graminum, and S. avenae under controlled conditions (Crespo-Herrera et al 2013). In that previous study, resistance was quantified as weight of aphids after a certain feeding period on seedling plants.…”