Wild relatives of crops as sources of gene for resistance to insect pests
Wild Relatives of Crops as Sources of
Genes for Resistance to Insect Pests
Nov 2009
Levels of resistance to insect pests in cultivated germplasm are quite low, and therefore, the need to
explore resistance genes from wild relatives of crops to diversify the basis of resistance to insect pests.
We evaluated wild
relatives of pigeonpea for
resistance to pod borer,
Helicoverpa armigera,
pod fly, Melanagromyza
obtusa and pod wasp,
Tanaostigmodes
cajaninae; chickpea wild
relatives for resistance to
pod borer, H. armigera;
Arachis wild relatives for
resistance to leaf miner,
Aproaerema modicella,
leafhopper, Empoasca
kerri, leaf feeding
caterpillars, H. armigera
and Spodoptera litura; and sorghum wild relatives for resistance to shoot fly, Atherigona soccata, stem
borer, Chilo partellus, and sorghum midge, Stenodiplosis sorghicola.
Evaluation of wild relatives of pigeonpea for resistance to insects
• Accessions belonging to Cajanus
scarabaeoides, C. sericeus and
C. acutifolius showed high levels
of resistance to H. armigera.
• High levels of antibiosis were
observed in C. sericeus (ICPW 159)
and C. scarabaeoides (ICPW 125,
and ICPW 152) (Table 1).
• The larvae took 32.7 to 42.5 days
to complete development on C.
scarabaeoides compared to 21.7
days on ICPL 87. ICPW 141,
ICPW 278 and ICPW 280 (C.
scarabaeoides), ICPW 14
(C. albicans) and F. stricta (ICPW
202) showed resistance to both
pod fly and pod wasp.
Table 1. Survival and development of Helicoverpa armigera
on wild relatives of pigeonpea
Accession Species
Larval
weight
(mg)
Larval
mortality
(%)
Larval
period
(days)15 days 20 days
ICPW 1 C. acutifolius 154.5 62 25.4
ICPW 159 C. sericeus 112.1 58 22.7
ICPW 125 C. scarabaeoides 46.4 62 33.7
ICPW 152 C. scarabaeoides 112.1 48 36.1
ICPL 332 - R C. cajan 294.5 46 24.3
ICPL 87 - S C. cajan 325.2 36 21.7
SE ± 6.0 6 1.63
Table 2. Survival and development of Spodoptera litura on
wild relatives of groundnut.
Accession Species
Leaf
feeding
(DR)
Larval
weight
(mg)
Larval
survival
(%)
ICG 8201 A. duranensis 4.3 31.5 70.0
ICG 8190 A. hoehnei 5.3 18.5 53.3
ICG 8206 A. ipaensis 2.7 10.0 46.7
ICG 8945 A. appressipila 2.7 12.6 60.0
ICGV 86699 A. hypogaea - R 9.0 68.5 80.0
TMV 2 A. hypogaea - S 7.0 100.1 56.7
SE ± 0.8 8.2 9.5
DR = Damage rating (1 = < 10%, and 9 = > 80% leaf area damaged)
Evaluation of wild
relatives of sorghum
for resistance to
insects
• Accessions belonging to
Parasorghum (Sorghum
australiense, S. versicolor and
S. nitidum) and Stiposorghum
(S. angustum, S. intrans and
S. stipodeum) did not show any
shoot fly damage under field
conditions (Table 3).
• Species belonging to
Heterosorghum (S. laxiflorum),
Parasorghum (S. australiense,
S. purpureosericeum,
S. versicolor and S. nitidum),
and Stiposorghum
(S. angustum, S. intrans and
S. stipoideum) suffered little
damage by stem borer
(Table 4).
• Sorghum amplum, S. bulbosum,
and S. angustum have shown
high levels of resistance
to sorghum midge. Many
accessions of the wild relatives
of sorghum showed high levels
of antibiosis to shoot fly and
stem borer, while the resistance
in the cultivated germplasm is
largely based on oviposition
non-preference.
Table 3. Deadheart incidence and adult emergence of Atherigona soccata on wild
relatives of sorghum.
Section Species Accession
Deadhearts (%) Adult
emergence
(%)Field No-choice
Chaetosorghum S. macrospoermum TRC 24112 6.7 61.5 -
Heterosorghum S. laxiflorum IS 18958 0.0 7.4 6.2
Parasorghum S. australiense IS 18954 0.0 10.1 4.2
Stiposorghum S. angustum TRC 243499 0.0 4.0 0.0
Sorghum S. ethiopicum IS 27584 88.9 - 99.5
S. bicolor IS 18551 - R 30.6 93.6 50.8
ICSV 1 - S 96.7 98.4 79.4
SE ± 8.3 19.6 -
Table 4. Deadheart incidence and survival of Chilo partellus larvae on
wild sorghums.
Section Species Accession
Deadhearts (%) Larval
survival
(%)Field No-choice
Heterosorghum S. laxiflorum IS 18958 0.0 82.5 6
Parasorghum S. australiense IS 18954 0.0 10.5 0
Stiposorghum S. angustum TRC 243499 0.0 0.0 6
S. virgatum IS 18808 94.5 98.2 55
S. bicolor IS 2205 - R 58.0 96.8 40
CSH1 - S 95.5 98.4 90
SE ± 8.3 82.5 6
C. sericeus C. scarabaeoides
Wild relatives of pigeonpea.
C. bijugumC. reticulatum
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
IG69948
IG70032
IG70033
IG72931
IG70039
IG70002
IG70010
IG69947
IG69980
IG70019
IG70003
IG69979
ICC506
Annigeri
ICCC37
Accessions
Larvalweight(mg)
Wt. (mg) 10 DAR
C. arietinum
C.pinnatifidum
C.judaicum
C.judaicum
C.judaicum
C.pinnatifidum
C.bijugum
C.bijugum
C.bijugum
C.judaicum
C.bijugum
C.bijugum
C.cuneatum
Figure 1. Weights of Helicoverpa armigera larvae at 10
days after release on wild relatives of chickpea.
Evaluation of wild
relatives of chickpea for
resistance to Helicoverpa
• Accessions IG 72933, IG 72934
and IG 72953 (Cicer reticulatum),
ICC 17257 and IG 70012 (C.
bijugum), IG 69979 (C. cuneatum),
and IG 70032 and IG 72931
(C. judaicum) showed lower leaf
feeding and a drastic reduction in
larval weight.
• Weights of 10-day old larvae
ranged from 11.72 to 26.66 mg on
the wild relatives compared to 46.48
mg on ICC 506, and 80.94 mg on
ICCC 37) (Fig. 1). Wild relatives of chickpea.
Wild relatives of groundnut.
Wild relatives of sorghum.
A. cardenasii A. valida
A. diogoi
S. nitidum arare
S. australiense
Conclusions
• Considerable progress has
been made in identification of
resistance in wild relatives to
Helicoverpa in pigeonpea and
chickpea; Atherigona, Chilo and
Stenodiplosis in sorghum; and
Empoasca, Aproaerema and
Spodoptera in groundnut.
• Information has been generated
on the physico-chemical
mechanisms conferring resistance to the target insects. Some of these mechanisms are different from
those found in the cultivated germplasm.
• Genes from wild relatives can be tapped through wide hybridization and marker assisted selection to
diversify the bases of resistance to insect pests for sustainable crop production.
Acknowledgments: The financial support provided by DFID, UK; GRDC, Australia; USAID – CGIAR
Linkage Grant, USA; and Andhra Pradesh Netherlands Project on Biotechnology, is gratefully
acknowledged.
For more information contact: HC Sharma, Principal Scientist (Entomology), e-mail: h.sharma@cgiar.org
Evaluation of wild
relatives of groundnut
for resistance to
insects
• Accessions belonging to
Arachis cardenasii,
A. duranensis and
A. triseminata showed multiple
resistance to leaf miner,
A. modicella, defoliators,
H. armigera and S. litura and
the leafhopper, E. kerri.
• Arachis cardenasii (IGG 8216)
and A. appressipila (ICG
8946) showed high levels of
antibiosis to S. litura (Table 2).
HC Sharma1
, G Sujana1
, V Kamala1
, G Pampapathy1
, PC Stevenson2
, TJ Ridsdill-Smith3
, and S L. Clement4
1
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India. 2
Natural Resources Institute (NRI),
Maritime, Chatham, Kent, UK. 3
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Entomology, Wembley 6913, Western Australia,
Australia. 4
USDA, ARS Plant Germplasm Introduction and Testing Research Unit, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-6402, USA.