Variation and inheritance of resistance to cypress aphid, Cinara cupressi Buckton in Cupressus lusitanica Miller

Cupressus lusitanica seedlings from open-pollinated seeds of 18 families were inoculated with day-old first instar Cinara cupressi. Aphid survival was used to determine the genetic basis and inheritance of resistance to the insect. There was marked variation in aphid survival both between and within families. An individual-tree narrow-sense heritability of 0.76 ± 0.30 shows strong additive genetic control which could allow effective selection and breeding for resistance. Resistant parents produced resistant progeny while susceptible parents produced susceptible progeny. There were notable exceptions as some susceptible parents produced highly resistant progeny, indicating that they had acquired pollen from resistant neighbours. Recovery of aphid damaged trees is evident implying that care should be taken in selecting for resistance. The strong additive variance and potentially high heritability indicate that one cycle of selection may yield a resistant population, while intraspecific crossing may give better results. Implications of the results in a C. lusitanica breeding programme are discussed.