Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Grand Ballroom
Banded cucumber beetle (BCB), (Diabrotica balteata LeConte) is among the major pests that cause significant economic damage to the lettuce crop in Florida. Control of the insect mainly relies on pesticide applications, which can pose adverse impact on environment. Host plant resistance is an environmentally sound method for controlling BCB and is compatible with other approaches in lettuce IPM. In this study, we evaluated responses of 67 lettuce germplasm lines and 10 cultivars to BCB in the field experiments in 2010. The BCB attacked lettuce from mid-November 2010 through early December 2010 and were not noted after the first freeze on December 7. Lettuce lines varied for their responses to foliar feeding by BCB and two germplasm lines (60185 and 70096) showed resistance. The resistance in 70096 and 60185 was confirmed in the laboratory tests. The two lines will be useful as sources of resistance for development of resistant cultivars that can reduce foliar feeding damage by BCB as well as for genetic study of the resistance.