INVESTIGATIONS OF RESISTANCE IN VEGETABLE CROPS TO ROOT-FEEDING DIPTEROUS PESTS

In attempts to reduce the vegetable growers dependence on insecticides for controlling root-feeding dipterous pests a concerted effort has been made to develop alternative control measures.
One approach has been to identify and exploit sources of resistance in plants to insect attack.
Progress made in studies of resistance to bean seed fly /Delia platura/, cabbage root fly /Delia brassicae/, carrot fly /Psila rosae/, onion fly /Delia antiqua/ and turnip root fly /Delia floralis/ is reviewed in this paper.

Techniques have been developed for evaluating different aspects of the insect/host plant relationships.
For certain pests the nature of resistance has been investigated.
Partial resistance to all these pests has been identified in crop cultivars although attempts to increase the levels of resistance through breeding have met with difficulties.
However, partial resistance in carrots has been shown to complement cultural and insecticidal measures and provide more satisfactory control of carrot fly.
Higher levels of resistance to both carrot fly and onion fly have been discovered in species closely related to crop plants and, in the long term, these species may offer better prospects for the development of resistant cultivars.

International Symposium on Diptera Pests in Vegetable Crops

P.R. Ellis

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1988.219.5