Susceptibility of everbearing cultivars of strawberry to the European tarnished plant bug, Lygus rugulipennis

Cultivars and advanced selections of everbearing strawberries were tested f or their resistance to the European tarnished plant bug, Lygus rugulipennis . No consistent differences in oviposition preferences were found in choice tests, and no differences were found in the proportions of eggs that hatch ed successfully. However, significant differences were found between the we ights of nymphs reared on three cultivars. In a field experiment, amounts o f fruit damage caused by L. rugulipennis were lower on cv. Bolero than on t hree other cultivars despite no significant differences being found between the numbers of L. rugulipennis nymphs on the different cultivars when the fruits were in the susceptible early development stage. Counts of nymphs on seedling progeny where cv. Bolero had been used as a parent were not lower than on those from other crosses. It seems likely that cv. Bolero has no r esistance to L. rugulipennis, but rather a greater tolerance to feeding by this insect.