A high incidence of potato virus Y (PVY) in potatoes has a great impact on potato production in the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota. Rejection rates as high as 38% of certified seed fields have resulted in the decline of seed potato acreage in both states. The green peach aphid, Myzus persicae (Sulzer), is the major and most efficient vector of PVY. One strategy to reduce the incidence of PVY in seed potato production is to develop cultivars with resistance to GPA. The development time and fecundity of M. persicae were assessed on thirty-eight potato breeding lines. Two GPA susceptible cultivars (Russet Burbank and Cascade) were used as standard checks. For fecundity study, five adult aphids were caged using a delnetŪ bag onto individual six-week old plants. The aphids were allowed to develop for 14 days at which time they were removed to individual vials with alcohol for ease of counting using a microscope. For the development time study, three newly laid nymphs were caged individually onto a leaflet of each breeding line and check. The development time from nymph to adult was recorded for each cage. The data is being tabulated and results will be discussed.
Species 1: Homoptera Aphididae Myzus persicae (green peach aphid)
Keywords: PVY vector, plant resistance
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