Evaluating three cruciferous vegetables as potential banker plant species for Brevicoryne brassicae for its parasitoid Aphidius gifuensis

Abstract

In order to identify a suitable banker plant to culture Brevicoryne brassicae for Aphidius gifuensis in mass as a biological control agent, B. brassicae were fed on cabbage, Chinese cabbage and rapeseed, and the reproductive potential of B. brassicae and A. gifuensis was measured using the life table method. The result showed that the intrinsic rate of increase (r) and finite rate of increase (λ) of B. brassicae in the Chinese cabbage treatment (0.4465 and 1.5629 day−1) were significantly greater than the cabbage (0.3874 and 1.4732 day−1) and rapeseed (0.3905 and 1.4777 day−1) treatments. The intrinsic rate of increase (r) and finite rate of increase (λ) of A. gifuensis reared on B. brassicae that were fed cabbage (0.4219 and 1.5249 day−1) and Chinese cabbage (0.4185 and 1.5196 day−1) were significantly higher than rapeseed (0.3533 and 1.4238 day−1). In addition, the net reproductive rate (R 0) of B. brassicae and A. gifuensis reared on cabbage (35.8 and 250.7 progeny per female) and Chinese cabbage (32.6 and 201.6 progeny per female) was significantly higher than rapeseed (30.8 and 143.8 progeny per female). Our data show that cabbage and Chinese cabbage are more suitable as banker plants to feed B. brassicae for the reproduction of A. gifuensis among the three tested plants.