Barley Varieties Stoneham and Sydney Exhibit Mild Antibiosis and Antixenosis Resistance to the Wheat Curl Mite, Aceria tosichella (Keifer)

The wheat curl mite, Aceria tosichella (Keifer), devastates cereal crops worldwide by direct feeding damage and transmission of several deadly viruses. Deployment of cereal crop varieties resistant to A. tosichella is key for reduction of crop yield losses, and management of this mite and associated viruses that it transmits. Barley varieties resistant to A. tosichella are not known to exist. The objectives of this study were to determine if A. tosichella resistance exists in the barley varieties Sydney and Stoneham, which are resistant to the Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia (Kurjumov), and, further, to determine which categories mediate the resistance. Categories of resistance to both A. tosichella biotypes were evaluated independently in non-choice and choice experiments using wheat varieties Ike and OK05312 as susceptible and resistant controls, respectively. Sydney barley displays mild antixenosis and antibiosis resistance to A. tosichella biotype 1 and 2, respectively. Stoneham barley exhibits only mild antibiosis to biotype 2. No evidence for plant tolerance was found in either barley variety to either mite biotype.