Screening of advanced breeding material of sorghum against shoot fly, Atherigona soccata (Rondani).

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Monech] is the fifth most important cereal crop worldwide after wheat, rice, maize and barley (FAO, 2011). In Maharashtra, sorghum is being grown on 5.50 million hectares and production is 6.05 million tonnes. sorghum shoot fly, Atherigona soccata Rondani (OrderDiptera, FamilyMuscidae) is the most destructive one and causes severe damage in the early i.e. seedling stage and last up to 4 weeks causing severe reduction in plant population thereby causing heavy yield losses. The maggot crawls to the plant whorl and then moves downward between the fold of young leaves till they reach the growing point. It cuts the growing tip and feeds on the decaying leaf tissues, which results in dead heart formation. Resistance to shoot fly, A. soccata in sorghum is expressed in terms of antixenosis for ovipositon, antibiosis and tolerance (Sharma and Nwanze, 1997; Dhillon et al., 2005 a, b).