New Leafminer-Resistant Spinach Varieties

Spinach and lettuce are top choices not only by salad lovers but also by troublesome insects known as leafminers. Leafminers are difficult to control as they are protected from pesticides and defense chemicals secreted by plants by feeding within the tissue of the leaves. Aside from causing damage in leaves, adult leafminers can ruin spinach, lettuce and other greens when they puncture leaves to feed on the sap, creating unsightly holes called “stings”.

Researchers from the U.S. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have developed two varieties of spinach with impressive natural resistance to this insect. Compared to other methods, natural resistance offers an economical, effective and environmentally friendly way to battle leafminers. The new spinach plants, designated "03-04-09" and "03-04-63," is rated as the world's first spinach breeding lines with significant leafminer resistance. These parent plants serve as an invaluable source of resistance that can be bred into spinach types already popular with growers, home gardeners and shoppers.

Read more at http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2007/071009.htm