Background
The RPW (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier) is one of the most devastating insects for date palm cultivation in the region. ICBA has longest running longest-running experiment in the UAE since 2001.
Since there are no barriers or containment among the varieties, we found it interesting to see differential reaction of varieties against RPW infestation.
The experiment is planned to test the hypothesis that ‘the contrasting response of different date palm varieties to RPW infestation is due to genetic factors associated with the resistance mechanism of variety or non-preference behavior of the insect.
Technical Program:
Development of genetic populations (RPW -affected x foreign male; RPW non-affected x foreign male)
Each group will be contained using nylon mesh to grow in healthy non-RPW environment
Controlled release of RPW will be done on 2-3 years old plants.
Each group will be phenotyped for traits related to insect infestation.
The results on infestation will be compared with genomic polymorphism results to find out the actual reason and defend or reject the hypothesis.
