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Research Project: Management of Aphids Attacking Cereals

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Title: Population differentiation in host choice among sugarcane aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) from Texas sorghum and Florida sugarcane

Author
item PAUDYAL, SULOCHANA - Oklahoma State University
item Armstrong, John
item GILES, KRISTOPHER - Oklahoma State University
item PAYTON, MARK - Oklahoma State University

Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/30/2018
Publication Date: 2/1/2018
Citation: Paudyal, S., Armstrong, J.S., Giles, K.L., Payton, M.E. 2018. Population differentiation in host choice for sugarcane aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) from Texas sorghum and Florida sugarcane. Sorghum Improvement Conference of North America (SICNA), January 29-31, 2018, St. Louis, MO, GP5, p. 9-10.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The sugarcane aphid (Melanaphis sacchari (Zehntner), hereafter abbreviated as SCA, is a relatively new pest of sorghum in the United States since 2013. It has been reported attacking sugarcane since 1970's. A sudden outbreak of SCA in sorghum led scientists to speculate whether it switched hosts from sugarcane to sorghum or was an emerging new biotype originating from wind-aided movement. Aphids have a history of ecological speciation or biotype development. This study investigated the biology and performance of the SCA collected from sugarcane in Florida, and sorghum in Texas when reared on the same three hosts sorghum, sugarcane, and Johnsongrass. No-choice test were conducted to compare the reproduction of SCA's for the Florida and Texas collections, as these collections were maintained on the original collection hosts of sugarcane and sorghum. The reproductive potential for the SCA collected from sorghum was significantly higher in susceptible sorghum and Johnsongrass, but few of these populations reproduced on sugarcane. However, the reproductive potential of SCA collected from sugarcane was significantly higher on sugarcane and Johnsongrass when compared to sorghum. These results indicate that the reproductive potential of SCA's inhabiting sugarcane and sorghum differs as a consequence of the contrasting feeding environments of host species provided. However, both populations (Florida / sugarcane, Texas / sorghum) performed well on Johnsongrass, which indicates that Johnsongrass is a common alternate host. Further work is needed to elucidate whether the reproductive performance will be the same under the field environment.