Screening of Pummelo (Citrus maxima Merr.) germplasm for resistance to citrus leaf miner, Phyllocnistis citrella stainton.

Fourteen germplasm collections of pummelo (Citrus maxima Merr.) were screened for resistance to citrus leaf miner, Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton (Lepidoptera: Gracillaridae) during 2005–07. The per cent leaf infestation and the number of active mines per leaf were considered to assess the performance of germplasm collections. There was a positive correlation between the per cent leaf infestation and the number of active mines per leaf. Based on these two parameters, infestation index was calculated which was used to classify the accessions into different resistance classes. None of the genotypes were resistant but four accessions viz., ‘Devanahalli Selection-1’, ‘IPK-1’, ‘Raichur Selection-7’ and ‘Tirupati Selection-2’ were moderately resistant. Among the rest, eight collections were susceptible and two were highly susceptible. This study has shown the existence of variability among pummelo collections in their reaction to P. citrella.