Research Information System
Journal of Biological Control, vol.33, no.4, pp.321-325, 2019 (Scopus)
Prey preference of natural enemies is an important parameter used in studies on their efficiency. Feeding preferences of individuals of Coccinella septempunctata (L.) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) for the essential prey items, winged and wingless Aphis fabae (Scopoli) and Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) were evaluated in the laboratory using Manly’s preference index. For the C. septempunctata prey preference experiment, equal number of winged and wingless A. fabae and M. persicae were offered to the predator adult stage. The experiment was conducted with 10 replicates. The number of aphids consumed was counted and recorded for every three hours. Two-way analysis of variance was performed to determine the interaction between the consumed aphid and time. In the statistical grouping, the highest consumption was in the first three hours in the wingless individuals, while the lowest consumption was in the 24th winged group. In addition, preferred prey experiments indicated that C. septempunctata consumed the wingless ones more than the winged ones. Index values > 0.5 represents preference for wingless while those < 0.5 represent non-preference for aphid species.