Duke Energy Convention Center, Exhibit Hall AB, Level 1, 1
Dolores Mornhinweg, USDA-ARS, Stillwater, OK and Tim Springer, USDA-ARS, Woodward, OK
Bird cherry-oat aphid, Rhopalosiphum padi L., is a serious pest of barley, Hordeum vulgare L., world-wide. It is the most efficient vector of barley yellow dwarf virus, the most important viral disease of small grains in the world. Not all bird cherry-oat aphids acquire the virus while feeding on infected plants yet yield loss has been reported with nonviruliferous bird cherry-oat aphid feeding alone. Because bird cherry-oat aphid injury is normally considered asymptomatic, screening of seedlings in the greenhouse to identify resistance has not been considered possible. A greenhouse seedling screening technique is herein proposed to identify bird cherry-oat aphid resistance in barley and a visual chlorosis rating scale of 1-5 is described. The objectives of this study were to validate this screening technique and determine if the proposed rating scale accurately predicts resistance in terms of grain yield and yield components.