Allelic relationship among genes for resistance to rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae L.) in bread wheat

The present investigation was conducted at G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and technology during 2011-12. Rice weevil resistance to wheat is an important storage pest of wheat in the tropics and sub-tropics. An effort has been made to establish the gene identity for rice weevil resistance in the wheat. F1 progenies showed resistant type of response towards weevil infestation; however, segregation in the F2 generations revealed that resistant parents had a different set of genes conferring weevil infestation. All the crosses namely, K20 x K21, K20 x K50 and K21 x K50 segregated in the pattern of 15 (resistant): 1 (susceptible) indicating that resistance to weevil infestation is controlled by two dominant genes and the genes interacted with each other in duplicate manner. Susceptible seeds were obtained in backcrosses also which further supported the non-identical nature of the gene(s) conditioning resistant to weevil.