Comparative Evaluation of Wheat Varieties for Resistance to Bird Cherry-Oat Aphid (Rhopalosiphum padi L.) under Field Conditions

Abstract

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is an important grain and staple food crop, which plays an important role in the economy of Pakistan. The attack of insect pests has a significant impact on plant life and grain yields in wheat crop resulting in a considerable loss of yields. The most important approach to reducing these losses is through production of pest resistant/tolerant varieties. Among the insect pests the aphid Rhopalosiphum padi is a main destructive pests of wheat crop which cause a considerable damage to wheat production in Sindh Pakistan. In the present investigation, various varieties of wheat resistance to R. padi under field condition were studied. Results of currant study showed significantly maximum population of R. padi (13.54±2.26/tiller) was recorded on Kiran, followed by TJ-83 11.35±2.12/tiller, Sattar 7.23±1.64/tiller, Mehran 5.08±1.13/tiller,  TH-83 4.33±0.98/tiller, NIA Sunder 2.25±0.52/tiller, NIA Amber 2.72±0.60/tiller, Khirman 3.17±0.67/tiller, NIA Sarang 3.61±0.77/tiller, while manimum population was found on  TD-1 (1.63±0.40/tiller) genotype respectively. The results indicated that highest yield of wheat genotype was recorded from TD-1 (6249.5 kg) followed by NIA Sunder (4562.1 kg), TH-23 (4343.1 kg), Mehran (4311.5 kg), Khirman (4193.2 kg), NIA Amber (3466.1 kg), NIA Sarang (3306.8 kg), Sattar (2826.2 kg), TJ-83 (2400.5 kg) whereas the Kiran genotypes found lowest (2293.1 kg) yield respectively.