Response of different maize accessions to pink stem borer Sesamia inferens Walker (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

• Main Authors: J.C Sekhar, P Lakshmi Soujanya, G K Chikkappa, N Sunil, J Kaul, KP Singh and, P Kumar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Indian Society of Plant Breeders 2016-03-01
• Series: Electronic Journal of Plant Breeding
• Subjects: dead hearts; land races; maize; resistance; s. inferens; screening
• Online Access: http://ejplantbreeding.org/index.php/EJPB/article/view/330

Sesamia inferens (Walker) is the most important Rabi pest of maize causing serious losses in India. The objective of the study was to identify maize landraces with high levels of resistance to S. inferens by screening 427 maize land races sourced from different agro-ecological regions, along with CM 500 and CML 451 as resistant and susceptible checks, respectively under natural conditions during Rabi, 2012-13. The range of average per cent dead hearts observed in land races was 0.0 to 57.14%. The most resistant land races were IC258225, IC319533, IC321053, IC321110, IC321111, IC321119, IC326886, IC331795, IC 338827 and IC 350198 which showed no dead hearts infestation while the susceptible were IC331939, IC340368, IC369174, IC369184, IC406420, IC549985, IC549989, IC549990, IC569669 and IC547811 suffered to the extent of 46.15 to 57.14 % dead hearts. There was no dead hearts infestation on resistant check CM 500 while susceptible check CML 451 showed 50 - 100 % dead hearts. These resistant land races identified are recommended for use in the development of S. inferens resistant maize.