Inheritance of potato aphid resistance in hybrids between Lycopersicon esculentum and L. pennellii

The potato aphid, Macrosiphum euphorbiae Thomas, is an important pest of tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum Mill., because it transmits tomato viruses and directly reduces crop yields by its feeding. This study was conducted to determine whether the wild tomato species, Lycopersicon pennellii (Corr.) D'Arcy, would be useful as a source of potato aphid resistance for tomato. Type IV trichome density and aphid resistance were assessed in six generations (P1, P2, F1, F2, BC1P1, and BC1P2) from crosses between L. pennellii (LA 716) and two tomato cultivars, New Yorker and VF Vendor. Weighted leastsquares were used in joint scaling tests to estimate the relative importance of gene effects on type IV trichome density and potato aphid resistance of the hybrids. A simple additive-dominance model adequately explained the variation in type IV trichome density. Models which included digenic epistatic effects were required to explain the variation in aphid resistance. Standard unit heritability estimates of aphid resistance in the backcross to L. esculentum were obtained by regression of BC1F2 off-spring families on BC1F1 parents. Regression coefficients and heritability estimates varied between years with the level and uniformity of the aphid infestation. In the 1985-1986 growing seasons, when aphid infestations were uniform, aphid resistance exhibited a moderate level of heritability (29.8% ± 14.1% and 47.1% ± 11.5% in New Yorker and VF Vendor backcross populations, respectively). The non-uniform aphid infestation of 1984 resulted in lower heritability estimates in the 1984-1985 growing seasons (16.1% ± 15.7% and 21.9% ± 14.8% in the New Yorker and VF Vendor backcross populations, respectively). Selection for potato aphid resistance would probably be most efficient if it were delayed until gene combinations are fixed in later generations, because of the large epistatic effects and the low heritability of this trait in seasons with variable aphid infestations.