Inheritance of Resistance to Pear Psylla Nymphal Feeding in Pear (Pyrus communis L.) of European Origin

Abstract

Pear psylla are serious pests of pear throughout North America and Europe. Inhibition of nymphal feeding has been identified as a key component of resistance, being correlated with inhibition of oviposition, mortality, and delayed development. Breeding for resistance would be aided by knowledge of the inheritance and relative breeding values of resistant parents. Nine seedling populations derived from crosses among five resistant European P. communis cultivars (‘Batjarka’, ‘Erabasma’, ‘Ilinjaca’, ‘Spina Carpi’, and ‘Zelinka’), a clone labeled ‘Obican Vodenac’, and two susceptible P. communis parents (‘Bartlett’ and ‘Sunrise’) were used in this study. The seedlings, ‘Bartlett’ as a susceptible control and NY10353 (a P. communis × P. ussuriensis backcross hybrid) as a moderately resistant control, were assayed for short-term survival and nymphal feeding after an infestation period of 2 days. There were no significant differences among the progenies and controls in mean proportion of live nymphs after 2 days. The distributions of live and feeding nymphs indicated some dominance for susceptibility in some crosses. There were few significant differences among crosses in the proportion of actively feeding nymphs; however, the two crosses involving ‘Erabasma’ exhibited significantly less feeding, indicating that ‘Erabasma’ transmitted resistance to nymphal feeding to its progeny to a greater degree than the other four resistant parents.