Direct Exposure of Wheat Seeds to High-Voltage Electrostatic Fields Adversely Affects the Performance of Sitobion avenae (Hemiptera: Aphididae)

Exposing seeds to a high-voltage electrostatic field (HVEF) may influence the performance of herbivores and improve the germination rate by inducing biological and physiological changes in plants. In the current study, an age-stage, two-sex life table was established to evaluate the effects from directly exposing seeds to HVEFs on the performance of apterous Sitobion avenae (Fabricius) reared on winter wheat. We treated the wheat seeds by exposing them to an HVEF for 20 min at three intensities: 2, 4, or 6 KV/cm. Controls received no treatment (0 KV/cm). The results indicated that the parameters of the net reproductive rate (R0), the intrinsic rate of increase (r), and the mean generation span (T) of S. avenae were significantly reduced by HVEFs through multiple generations. In addition, the age-specific survival rate (lx) and comparison with the results of a Weibull equation analysis suggested that S. avenae had the shortest life span when seeds were exposed to an HVEF at 4 KV/cm. Overall, these findings indicated that direct exposure of wheat seeds to an HVEF at 4 KV/cm could adversely affect the performance of S. avenae.