EVALUATION OF SOME GRAIN SORGHUM LINES FOR RESISTANCE TO SESAMIA CRETICA LED. AND YIELD POTENTIAL

Abstract

Pink stem borer Sesamia cretica is considered the most serious sorghum insects in Egypt. The aim of the present study is to evaluate seven restorer and nine maintainer sorghum lines compared with the commercial check variety Dorado for resistance to Sesamia cretica and yield potential . A field experiment is carried out at Nubaria Agricultural Research Station , under two conditions , first is under optimum natural infestation of S. cretica during the growing seasons 2011 and 2012 and the second under artificial infestation with newly hatched larvae of the insect during 2012 season . Three traits expressing resistance to S. cretica were recorded, i.e. percentage of infested plants , percentage of plants with dead hearts and intensity of damage. Results showed that restorer line ICSR–91022 display high resistance degree of the three resistance criteria under both natural and artificial infestation conditions (17.50%, 5.74% and 1.85)and (23.12%, 6.72% and 2.11), respectively with high yielding potential under natural infestation condition (19.75 ard./fad.). The restorer line ICSR-94006 manifested moderate resistance under natural infestation (34.74%, 12.73% and 2.52, respectively) and had relatively high yield potentiality (18.07 ard./fad.). The tallest restorer line was ICSR-94006 (235.83 cm), while earliness maintainer lines flowering were GZB-9-1, BTX-807 and BTX-623 (65.67, 66.83 and 67 days, respectively). The heaviest grains were obtained from restorer lines ICSR-89028, ICSR-89053 and ICSR-91022 (29.86, 27.80 and 27.32 g, respectively). The restorer line ICSR–91022 was highly resistance to S. cretica and give high yield potential. On the other hand, restorer line ICSR-94006 showed moderate resistance and relatively high yield potential