Population Performance of Thrips hawaiiensis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) on Different Vegetable Host Plants.

ABSTRACT

Thrips hawaiiensis (Morgan) is a flower-inhabiting thrips with a wide range of host plants, but little is known regarding its biological and ecological characteristics on vegetable hosts. Here, we evaluated the development, survival, and oviposition of T. hawaiiensis on five vegetable species (Capsicum annuum, Solanum melongena, Cucurbita moschata, Lablab purpureus, and Brassica oleracea), and constructed its life tables on these vegetables. There were significant differences in the development of T. hawaiiensis on the five vegetables, and the developmental times from egg to adult were 12.19 days, 11.59 days, 11.12 days, 10.78 days, and 10.51 days on C. moschata, B. oleracea, L. purpureus, C. annuum, and S. melongena, respectively. There were also significant differences in T. hawaiiensis' survival rate on these plants, with S. melongena (71.00%) > C. annuum (67.33%) > L. purpureus (63.33%) > B. oleracea (57.00%) > C. moschata (49.33%). The greatest and lowest fecundity levels of T. hawaiiensis were found on S. melongena (44.28) and C. moschata (30.16), respectively. T. hawaiiensis had the greatest net reproductive rate on S. melongena (19.22), followed by C. annuum (16.11), L. purpureus (15.17), B. oleracea (11.10), and C. moschata (8.47), and the intrinsic rate of increase showed a similar trend, with values of 0.140, 0.125, 0.121, 0.112, and 0.093, respectively. Thus, S. melongena and C. moschata were the most and least suitable hosts for the population development of T. hawaiiensis among the five tested vegetable hosts. This study could provide important information for the key control of T. hawaiiensis on different crops.