The wheat thrips Haplothrips tritici is a specialized pest whose life cycle is most closely linked to the phenology of soft wheat. Along with it, other species of cereal thrips are found in crops, but it is H. tritici that causes the primary damage to the crop during the growing season.
Damage caused by adults manifests as leaf discoloration, flag leaf curling, and ear deformation. Larvae, feeding under the glumes, cause partial whitehead, sterility, and the formation of shriveled grain with yellow-brown spots, which leads to a significant loss in yield weight and reduced germination capacity.
Genetic resistance of soft wheat to thrips is currently considered a complex trait of field resistance without the identification of specific genes. Breeding lines are evaluated based on qualitative damage indicators, while research on identifying genetic markers for resistance is ongoing.
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Thrips.