Sources of resistance to Hessian Fly ( Diptera:Cecidomyiidae ) in Syria identified among Aegilops species and Synthetic derived bread wheat Lines

The Hessian fly, Mayetiola destructor
(Say), is a major pest of wheat in North Africa,
southern Europe, North America, and northern
Kazakhstan. It is believed this pest (like wheat)
originated in West Asia. The Syrian Hessian fly
biotype has been found to be the most virulent
worldwide, and has been used at the International
Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
(ICARDA) for screening wheat and its wild relatives to
identify new sources of resistance. The screening was
conducted in an insect rearing room set at 20C and
70% RH using a Hessian fly population collected from
Lattakia region, Syria. The experimental design was a
randomized complete block with four replications.
‘Nasma’ (bread wheat) and ‘Cando’ (durum wheat)
were used as susceptible and resistant checks, respectively.
A total of 623 lines/accessions of wheat and its
wild relatives (Aegilops and Triticum) were evaluated.
Twenty-nine Aegilops accessions and four synthetic
derived bread wheat lines were found resistant. The
presence of dead first instars confirmed the resistance
reaction and also showed that antibiosis is the major
mechanism of resistance in these materials. These
sources of resistance are used in ICARDA’s wheat breeding programs for the development of Hessian flyresistant
germplasm/varieties