Selection of Some Winter-Spring Vegetable Crop Hosts by Bemisia argentifolii (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae)

Bemisia argentifolii Bellows et al. adults were released into a greenhouse containing cabbage, fava bean, leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, and potato plants. Abundance of adults and eggs per plant, within-plant distribution of adults, and survival of eggs to adult emergence were assessed on each type of plant in two separate trials. Adults and eggs were significantly more abundant on potato and cabbage than on the other plant types. Number of eggs laid per adult was highest on potato, cabbage, and fava bean, and lowest on both lettuce cultivars. Within-plant distribution was host dependent. B. argentifolii adults were most often found on the newest leaves of cabbage. Adults were more evenly distributed on potato, with greater abundance on midtier leaves. Adults on fava bean also tended to be on the newer leaves, but the difference in abundance compared with that on midtier leaves was not significant. On both types of lettuce, adults were usually on older (outer) leaves and rarely were found on the newest leaves. Egg distribution tended to follow that of adults for all plant types. Survival from egg to adult emergence was highest for potato (81.8%), fava bean (73.1%), and cabbage (59.6%), and lowest on lettuce.