EVALUATION OF LYCOPERSICON GERMPLASM COLLECTION FOR RESISTANCE TO TOMATO SPOTTED WILT VIRUS

Seedlings of eight accessions of L. hirsutum and susceptible L. esculentum `VF Pink' controls were spray inoculated twice in the greenhouse with tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) Arkansas 85-9. Plants lacking symptoms were reinoculated, then evaluated for TSWV by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Controls were consistently infected; sixty noninfected L. hirsutum were propagated by cuttings and inoculated with TSWV isolates T2 (lettuce), G-87 (gloxinia), 87-34 (tomato) and a mixture of the four isolates. All selections became infected in at least one test, but systemic infection was often delayed. Additional wild Lycopersicon species and numbers of accessions evaluated for resistance to TSWV include L. cheesmanii (9), L. chmielewskii (17), L. hirsutum (24), L. hirsutum f. glabratum (17), L. parviflorum (4) and L. pennellii (44). No new sources of strong resistance have been identified yet. Evaluation of additional species and accessions is continuing.