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Susceptibility of five cabbage varieties to attack by aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in the Accra plains of Ghana

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

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Type

Article

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Authors

Adenka, KD 
Afreh-Nuamah, K 
Wamonje, FO 

Abstract

We investigated the susceptibility of five cabbage varieties (‘Oxylus’, ‘Super Cross’, ‘Vantar F1 Hybrid’, ‘Santa’F1 and ‘Fortune’) to aphids. Trials were set up in the Accra plains for two rainy seasons in 2017. The first trial examined aphids’ infestation and the second included weekly blanket spray of neem oil at 0.48 L/ha (60ml/15L water) during the second rainy season. Five systematically sampled cabbage leaves per plot were examined for the numbers of aphids and associated natural enemies (predators). Symptoms of aphid attack (incidence and severity of infestation) were also recorded. Lipaphis erysimi pseudobrassicae (Davis) and Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) were the two aphid species observed and their numbers differed significantly between varieties in both seasons during the first but not the second trial. Few aphids settled on ‘Oxylus’, while more occurred on ‘Fortune’. L. e. pseudobrassicae was the most abundant aphid on all the varieties. Aphid numbers were significantly decreased by neem application. Occurrence of natural enemies did not differ significantly between varieties, except for spiders during the major rainy season. There was no significant difference in aphid infestation between varieties during the first season as all of them completely succumbed to the infestation, while in the second season aphid incidence and severity of infestation was highest on ‘Fortune’, with ‘Oxylus’ being the least attacked by aphids. The crop yield was zero during the first season without protection for all the varieties. However, in the second season, lower yields (0.19-3.66 t/ha) was obtained with cabbage without protection, and much higher yields (14.8-21.1 t/ha) were obtained on neem-treated plots.

Description

Keywords

Natural enemies, Neem oil, Mustard aphid, Green peach aphid, Cabbage, Cultivars

Journal Title

Phytoparasitica

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0334-2123
1876-7184

Volume Title

49

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/J011762/1)
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/P023223/1)
BBSRC (BB/GCRF-IAA/04)
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/R005397/1)
BBSRC (via University of Bristol) (BB/R005397/1)
This work was funded by grants to KOF and JPC from Cambridge-Africa Partnership for Research Excellence (CAPREx), the ALBORADA Trust, the UK Biotechnological and Biological Research Council (BBSRC) Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Impact Acceleration Account (BB/GCRF-IAA/04) and the BBSRC CONNECTED Network (BB/R005397/1: https://www.connectedvirus.net/). FOW was supported by a grant to JPC from the BBSRC SCPRID scheme (BB/J011762/1) and by a Royal Society-FLAIR Fellowship (Grant number FLR\R1\190462).