Heritability of the Resistance to Potato Leafhopper in Dry Bean

Abstract

The potato leafhopper (PLH), Empoasca fabae Harris is the most important Empoasca species attacking dry beans ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in North America. The objective of this study was to determine the heritability (h 2 ) of PLH injury based on parent-offspring regression analysis of F 3 means on individual F 2 plants derived from crosses of pinto `Sierra' (resistant) × great northern `Starlight' (susceptible), and black bean `Tacarigua' (resistant) × `Starlight' (susceptible). Low narrow-sense heritability values of 0.29 ± 0.06 and 0.28 ± 0.10, respectively, were obtained for the above crosses. The low narrow-sense heritability estimates indicated large environmental effects on the expression of PLH injury in dry beans. An allelic test showed that both resistant parents possessed the same genes for resistance.