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Colour preference and potato cultivar oviposition choice by onion thrips, Thrips tabaci (Thysanoptera: Thripidae)

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 23:11 authored by Westmore, GW, Geoff AllenGeoff Allen, Calum WilsonCalum Wilson
Thrips tabaci (Lindeman) is an important polyphagous pest, and vector of Tomato spotted wilt virus responsible for sporadic, but devastating epidemics in potato. T. tabaci shows significant preferential differences between potato cultivars that may be important for field resistance. To investigate the role of visual cues in host choice we tested colour preference using two-choice assays. Thrips tabaci showed a significant preference for mid-green over red, blue, and white coloured cards, a preference for both light-green and mid-green over dark-green, and light-green over yellow, but no preferential difference between mid-green and yellow, and between light-green and mid-green. Analysis of the spectral reflectance of potato cultivars differing in thrips preference, revealed significant differences within the 400–700 nm wavelengths. In most cases cultivars preferred by T. tabaci had lighter green foliage and higher reflectance at 552 nm, and thus colour preference may be important for host selection. Oviposition choice of T. tabaci for potato cultivars was determined from counts of larvae and unhatched eggs from leaf disks under choice and no-choice conditions. In contrast to the colour choice experiments, onion thrips showed oviposition preference for cultivars with darker green foliage and lower reflectance at 552 nm.

History

Publication title

Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology

Volume

22

Pagination

25-32

ISSN

1226-8615

Department/School

Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA)

Publisher

Elsevier BV

Place of publication

Netherlands

Rights statement

Copyright 2018 Korean Society of Applied Entomology

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Field grown vegetable crops

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