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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Charleston, South Carolina » Vegetable Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #189263
Title: EVALUATION OF ADVANCED SWEETPOTATO GENOTYPES FOR RESISTANCE TO SOIL INSECT PESTS, 2004

Author
item Jackson, D
item Bohac, Janice

Submitted to: Arthropod Management Tests
Publication Type: Research Notes
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/26/2006
Publication Date: 11/15/2006
Citation: Jackson, D.M., Bohac, J. 2006. Evaluation of Advanced Sweetpotato Genotypes for Resistance to Soil Insect Pests, 2004. Arthropod Management Tests, Volume 31, Report No. M3, Online Journal at http://www.entsoc.org/pubs/index/html.

Interpretive Summary: Most commercial sweetpotato cultivars have little resistance to soil insect pests, which can severely limit marketable yields. Thus, there is a need to develop new cutlivars that have increased levels of insect resistance. This report describes a field evaluation of 24 advanced sweetpotato entries from the USDA ARS program at the U. S. Vegetable Laboratory (USVL), Charleston, SC, 2002. Several of the advanced lines were more resistant to soil insect pests than were the susceptible check cultivars. The most promising of these advanced clones will be developed as breeding lines or new sweetpotato cultivars.

Technical Abstract: This report describes a field evaluation of 24 advanced sweetpotato genotypes from the USDA ARS program at the U. S. Vegetable Laboratory (USVL), Charleston, SC, 2004. There were highly significant genotype effects for percentage of clean roots, WDS index, percentage of roots damaged by SPFB, percentage of roots damaged by white grubs, and percentage of roots damaged by SPW. There were no significant replication effects in any of the analyses of variance. Fifteen genotypes had a significantly higher percentage of undamaged roots than three of the susceptible check cultivars (‘Beauregard’, ‘Hernandez’, and ‘SC 1149 19’). All 23 other sweetpotato genotypes had a significantly lower WDS rating than the control entries ‘SC 1149 19’ and ‘Beauregard’. Seventeen genotypes had a significantly lower percentage infestation by SPFB than did ‘SC1149 19’ or ‘Hernandez’. Only three entries had significantly lower percentage of infestation by white grubs than did ‘SC1149 19’. All genotypes had significantly less SPW damage than ‘SC 1149 19’, and 19 genotypes had significantly less SPW damage than ‘Beauregard’.