Resistance to insects by cabbage lines developed in New York when grown in South Texas

Brassica oleracea (L.) germplasm, developed at the New York Agricultural Experiment Station (NYAES), Geneva, as advanced cabbage breeding lines with resistance to lepidopterous pests, was grown in south Texas. Resistance, as measured in terms of insects present on plants, of the breeding lines to arthropod pests was compared with that of cultivars commonly grown in south Texas by monitoring populations of insect pests on the various lines and cultivars. Breeding lines developed at NYAES retained their desired characteristics for resistance to naturally occurring populations of Trichoplusia ni (Hübner) and Plutella xylostella (L.) and also were found to be resistant to Brevicoryne brassicae (L.). A red cabbage cultivar, Red Rock, was found to be more susceptible to Pemphigus populitransversus Riley populations than all other lines or cultivars. Murgantia histrionica (Hahn) was present during one growing season and some NYAES lines that were infested with low numbers of lepidopterous larvae and aphids became heavily infested with this species. Spodoptera exigua (Hübner) populations did not occur in great enough abundance to evaluate differences in resistance among lines and cultivars in 1984 or 1985.