New cultivars of alfalfa have been developed with resistance to potato leafhopper using glandular trichomes. Cultivar effects on other species of leafhoppers and planthoppers has not been reported. Here, we tested the hypothesis that the structure of auchenorrhynchan communities differed between a leafhopper-resistant cultivar and a susceptible cultivar grown in a randomized complete block design in western Maryland. Using large, 80x80 ft plots, replicated 5 times, we sampled leafhoppers and planthoppers using a Dvac each week of the second and third alfalfa growth cycles, when potato leafhopper is typically abundant. Potato leafhopper densities were reduced in the resistant plots, which resulted in higher measures of diversity (evenness).
Species 1: Homoptera Cicadellidae Empoasca fabae (potato leafhopper)
Keywords: community structure, resistance
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA