Life Table of Aspidiotus Nerii Bouche (Hemiptera, Diaspididae) on Six Potato Varieties at the Laboratory Conditions

Abstract

Aspidiotus nerii Bouche (Hemiptera, Diaspididae) is a polyphagous species and the host of many effective biological control agents. It has short generation time and produces on potato tubers easily. The oleander scale is commonly used at the mass production studies of many natural enemies. The most appropriate host plant selection to oleander scale is important for mass production studies. The life table is a good way to understand the population dynamic of an organism. In this study, the life table parameters of oleander scale on six potato varieties (Agria, Sante, Marabel, Granola, Vanba and Provento) were estimated by using the Euler-Lotka method at the climatic cabinets which have 25 degrees C constant temperature, 60 +/- 5% relative humidity and 16:8 hours light-dark periods. The life table parameters were calculated as follows: intrinsic rate of increase (r(m)), 0.049, 0.048, 0.045, 0.034, 0.046 and 0.026 females/female/day, net reproductive rates (R-0) 19.35, 18.52, 16.67, 8.31, 16.34 and 5.01 females/female, mean generation time (T-0) 61.15, 60.72, 62.20, 62.79, 60.79 and 62.66 days, gross reproductive rate (GRR) 30.53, 23.90, 20.85, 10.66, 31.76 and 19.72, doubling time (T-2) 14.31, 14.42, 15.32, 20.56, 15.08 and 26.96 days, finite rate of increase (lambda) 1.05, 1.05, 1.05, 1.03, 1.05 and 1.03 females/days, respectively.