Evaluation of Host Plant Susceptibility Indices and Screening of Sugarcane Promising Lines for Resistance Potential Against Whitefly, Aleurolobus barodensis (Maskell) in Sindh, Pakistan.

The whiteflies are polyphagous, host, and feed on the sap of sugarcane leaves may cause a loss in yield production. This study was designed to screen out the fifteen sugarcane genotypes to recognize their comparative resistance/susceptibility during 2014-15 and 2015-16. The whitefly attack was first found in June, rapidly increased in August, and reached its maximum population in October. After that, the population gradually declined from November to December. The highest 1.80 per cm2 leaf-1 population of whitefly (nymph + puparia) was recorded on YT-53, followed by 1.56 per cm2 leaf-1 in S-2007-AUS-384, which showed moderate susceptibility. The genotypes Hoth-127, NARC-1, and CP-TJ-349, exhibited less susceptible responses with an average range of 1.01-1.50 per cm2 leaf-1. The other genotypes, i.e., CP-TJ-349, Hoth-326, Th-910, S-2005-CSSG-33, S-2007-AUS-384, Hoth-2109, LAM-76/TJ-803, Th-1201, S-2009-CPSG-06, S-1996-NSG-197, NARC-2, and Th-1210 showed resistance response with an average range of 0.01-1.00 per cm2 leaf-1. The maximum Host Plant Susceptibility Indices (HPSIs) during 2015 (16% and 15%), 2016 (13% and 14%), and cumulative (16% and 14%) were recorded in YT-53 and S-2007-AUS-384, respectively. Based on the cumulative result of HPSIs, these genotypes keep in the moderately susceptible category. Similarly, the genotypes Hoth-127, NARC-1, and CP-TJ-349 showed intermediate HPSIs (12, 11, and 9% respectively, found to be less susceptible. While the genotypes, i.e., Hoth-326, Th-910, S-2005-CSSG-33, LAM-76/TJ-803, Hoth-2109, Th-1201, S-1996-NSG-197, S-2009-CPSG-06, NARC-2, and Th-1210 were recorded minimum HPSIs in the range of 1-8% possibly found to be resistant.