Louisiana State University Agric. Ctr.

Absolute resistance to weevils

--Manjit S. Kang

Weevils (Sitophilus ssp.) can be devastating to stored maize grain, especially in the southern USA. There can be 100% loss. Several varieties, especially plant introductions, were evaluated, over a four-year period, for resistance to weevils. `Philippines' (PI91414) showed an absolute resistance to weevils (not a single kernel was damaged), whereas all other varieties were completely destroyed by weevils. Seed of `Philippines' has been increased and is available, upon request, from this cooperator. Seed of `Philippines' may also be available from the Plant Introduction Station at Ames, Iowa, whence this variety was originally obtained.

Recently, `Philippines' has also been reported to have the lowest amount of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) among 12 varieties at Baton Rouge and one of the lowest amounts of AFB1 at Tifton, Georgia (Kang, Lillehoj, and Widstrom, Euphytica 51:19-23, 1990).

`Philippines' was crossed in 1990 to several Louisiana inbred lines. Future plans are to determine the genetic nature of resistance to weevils and to examine correlation between resistance to weevils and resistance to AFB1.

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