Influence of selected host plants on biology of castor whitefly, Trialeurodes ricini (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae)

•We determined the biology of castor whitefly on four plants in the laboratory.•The whitefly developed differently on the four host plants.•Most biological parameters of the whitefly were best on castor, and worst on cotton.•The immatures and adults were larger on castor and eggplant than on other plants.•We also determined the life table parameters on castor.

The development time, immature survivorship, immature size, tertiary sex ratio, pre-oviposition period, fecundity, and preferences of the castor whitefly, Trialeurodes ricini on four host plant species (castor, eggplant, cotton and green bean) were evaluated under laboratory conditions. Development time from egg to adult emergence was the longest on cotton (33.3 days), the shortest on green bean (25.4 days), and intermediate on eggplant (28.5 days) and castor (28.3 days). The survival rate was the highest on castor (92.5%), followed by those on green bean (80.2%) and eggplant (73.8%), and the lowest on cotton (42.6%). The sex ratio was the highest on cotton (♀:♂ = 2.45:1.00), the lowest on eggplant (♀:♂ = 0.75:1.00), and intermediate on castor and green bean (♀:♂ = 1.04:1.00). T. ricini immatures and adults were generally larger when reared on castor and eggplant than on other plants. The net reproduction rate (R0) was 57.656 females per female per generation, the generation time (T) was 35.9 days, the intrinsic rate of increase (rm) was 0.1128 eggs per female per day, the gross reproduction rate (GRR) was 108.04 eggs per female per generation, the finite rate of increase (λ) was 1.1194 females per female per day, and the doubling time (DT) was 6.1149 days. In both no-choice and two-choice tests, T. ricini adults preferred castor for feeding and oviposition.

Graphical abstractCastor whitefly, Trialeurodes ricini.Biology on the four host plants: Castor–Cotton–Eggplant–Green Bean.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide