Diuraphis noxia and Rhopalosiphum padi (Hemiptera: Aphididae) interactions and their injury on resistant and susceptible cereal seedlings

Interspecific interactions between the symptomatic (chlorosis-eliciting) Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia (Mordvilko), and the asymptomatic (nonchlorosis-eliciting) bird cherry-oat aphid, Rhopalosiphum padi (L.), on four cereal genotypes were examined by simultaneous infestations. Four cereals (i.e., Diuraphis noxia-susceptible 'Arapahoe' wheat and 'Morex' barley, and D. noxia-resistant 'Halt' wheat and 'Border' oat) and four infestations (i.e., control, D. noxia, R. padi, and D. noxia/R. padi) were used in the research. Whereas D. noxia biomass confirmed D. noxia resistance among the cereals, R. padi biomass indicated that the D. noxia-resistant cereals did not confer R. padi resistance. D. noxia biomass was significantly lower in D. noxia/R. padi infestation than that in D. noxia infestation on all cereals, except Border oat, which indicated an antagonistic effect of R. padi on D. noxia. All aphid infestations caused a significant plant biomass reduction in comparison with the control. In comparison with D. noxia infestation, D. noxia/R. padi caused a significant plant biomass reduction on all cereals, except Morex barley. Although D. noxia biomass in D. noxia/R. padi infestation was significantly less than that in D. noxia infestation, leaf chlorophyll reduction was the same between D. noxia/R. padi and D. noxia infestations, which suggested that the asymptomatic R. padi enhanced the D. noxia-elicited leaf chlorophyll loss. The regression between chlorophyll content and aphid biomass indicated that the asymptomatic R. padi in the D. noxia/R. padi infestation enhanced chlorophyll loss, but interspecific aphid interaction on plant biomass varied among the cereals.