Abstract

Tuta absoluta is a devastating pest of tomato. The use of host plant resistance to control pests is an interesting, potentially useful technique, but there is no known cultivated tomato resistant to T. absoluta. The objective of this resistance was to screen wild tomato accession and identify resistance mechanism against T. absoluta. Sixteen wild tomato accessions from six species were tested in two experiments. The tested parameters were damaged leaf area, oviposition rate, emerged larvae, adult and larvae survival, larvae and adult preference. Those parameters were correlated with the density of each trichome type and with LC-MS data. From no-choice test parameters accession LA1777, LA1718 and LA716 were the most resistant and LA1401 and LA1139 were the most susceptible, and all S. lycopersicum accessions were susceptible. From choice test, the accessions G1.1561, LA1718, LA716, LA1645, LA0483 and LA1408 were not preferred by the larvae, and the accessions LA1777 and G1.1561 were the least preferred by the adults. The accession LA1777 and LA716 were out of the most resistance. The resistance of this genotype was related to the presence of trichome Type I and IV.

Keywords: Tuta absoluta; Tomato; LA1777; LA716; Glandular Trichomes; LC-MS