Natural behaviour of sugarcane germplasm against Scirpophaga excerptalis wlk. infestation

Two hundred forty five accessions of sugarcane including Saccharum officinarum, S. barberi, S. sinense, foreign commercial cultivars of Barbados, Canal Point, Hawaii, Mauritius, Queensland, Africa, Argentina, Jawa and Indian commercial cultivars were evaluated against the top borer pest under natural infested condition. Twelve auccessions (4.9%) were found resistant, 79 (32.3%) were moderately resistant, 152 (62.0%) were susceptible and only 2 (0.8%) were highly susceptible. Maximum percentage (18.2%) of accessions of S. barberi were resistant to top borer infestation, followed by foreign commercial cultivars (10.5%), and Indian commercial cultivats (2.3%).