Pea weevil damage and chemical characteristics of pea cultivars determining their resistance to Bruchus pisorum L.

Abstract

Bruchus pisorum (L.) is one of the most intractable pest problems of cultivated pea in Europe. Development of resistant cultivars is very important to environmental protection and would solve this problem to a great extent. Therefore, the resistance of five spring pea cultivars was studied to B. pisorum: Glyans, Modus; Kamerton and Svit and Pleven 4 based on the weevil damage and chemical composition of seeds. The seeds were classified as three types: healthy seeds (type one), damaged seeds with parasitoid emergence holes (type two) and damaged seeds with bruchid emergence holes (type three). From visibly damaged pea seeds by pea weevil B. pisorum was isolated the parasitoid Triaspis thoracica Curtis (Hymenoptera, Braconidae). Modus, followed by Glyans was outlined as resistant cultivars against the pea weevil. They had the lowest total damaged seed degree, loss in weight of damaged seeds (type two and type three) and values of susceptibility coefficients. A strong negative relationship (r = -0.838) between the weight of type one seeds and the proportion of type three seeds was found. Cultivars with lower protein and phosphorus (P) content had a lower level of damage. The crude protein, crude fiber and P content in damaged seeds significantly or no significantly were increased as compared with the healthy seeds due to weevil damage. The P content had the highest significant influence on pea weevil infestation. Use of chemical markers for resistance to the creation of new pea cultivars can be effective method for defense and control against B. pisorum.