Biotypic Status of the Russian Wheat Aphid in Correlation to Resistant Barley lines in the Highlands of Shewa, Ethiopia
Abstract
The Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia, is an important pest on barley in the Highlands of Tigray and Shewa, Ethiopia, where barley is the main crop. Mekelle University and the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization are searching for barley lines resistant to D. noxia. These lines shall be distributed to the farmers to decrease losses of the annual yield. However, the biotypic variation of D. noxia is a major concern when developing resistance in barley. The characterization of the biotypes of several American, African and European populations of D. noxia revealed high polymorphism when analyzing the populations by allozymes and RAPD-PCR. The change of aphid biotypes in a population occurs mainly by migration and sexual production. New biotypes might overcome an established plant resistance. There are purely anholocyclic populations having only parthenogenetic reproduction and there are purely holocyclic populations having sexual and parthenogenetic reproduction. The Ethiopian populations were not included in ecological and genetic examinations yet. Thus, this project has following aims: 1. to obtain information on the biotypic variation of D. noxia populations in the Highlands of Shewa, Tigray and of other Ethiopian populations by using allozymes, RAPD and microsatellite markers that have already been developed. The data will be compared to previously published data. 2. to determine the status of the D. noxia biotypes in correlation to the resistant/susceptible barley lines in the Highlands of the Tigray. 3. to determine if D. noxia is holocyclic or anholocyclic in Ethiopia This project will support Mekelle University and other institutions in Ethiopia in their search for new resistant barley lines.
keywords Diuraphis noxia aphids population genetics Phylogeography Homptera resistance Ethiopia
Publikationen
Project staff
Christian Stauffer
Ao.Univ.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.nat.techn. Christian Stauffer
christian.stauffer@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-91631
Project Leader
01.05.2001 - 01.05.2004
BOKU partners
External partners
University of Mekelle
Tesfay Belay Reda
partner