Effects of host plants on the life table parameters of experimental populations of Aphis gossypii.

A comparative study was conducted on the life table parameters of Aphis gossypii reared on five host plant species at (25±1) ° in laboratory. There existed significant differences in the durations of various developmental stages, adult longevity, mean offspring number per day, net reproductive rate, intrinsic rate of increase, finite rate of increase, mean generation time, and population doubling time for the A. gossypii populations reared on the host plants. For the aphids on Lagenaria siceraria var. turbinate, they needed the longest time (5. 84 days) to complete one generation, but for those on the other four plants, no significant differences were observed, with the time needed ranged from 5. 24 to 5. 45 days. The adult longevity was the longest (20. 04 days) on Cucumis sativus, but had no significant differences on the other four host plants, being from 14. 76 to 16. 03 days. The populations' survival curves on all test host plants were of Deevey I, i. e. , the death mainly occurred during late period. The survival rate on C. sativus was higher than those on the other four host plants. Based on the intrinsic rates of increase of A. gossypii, its host suitability was in the order of Cucumis melo var. saccharinus > Lagenaria siceraria var. turbinate > Cucurbita moschata var. melonaeformis > Cucumis sativus > Cucurbita pepo var. medullosa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]