Annals of Plant Protection Sciences

Observations for two successive generations were made to find out survival and fecundity of Coccinella septempunctata with respect to different aphid species viz., Lipaphis erysimi, Aphis craccivora, Hyadaphis coriandri, Rhopalosiphum nymphae and Macrosiphum rosae under laboratory conditions at 25±1°C, 65±5% RH coupled with photoperiod maintained at 12:12 hrs (L:D). The highest potential fecundity and net reproductive rate of Coccinella septempunctata was obtained on L. erysimi (129.43 eggs/female & 40.14 females/female/generation, respectively), and the lowest on M. rosae (39.62 eggs/female & 7.13 females/female/generation, respectively). Various growth parameters viz., finite rate of increase, intrinsic rate increase and annual rate of increase were however, found maximum on A. craccivora (1.096, 0.091 females/female/day & 3.72x¹⁴/annum, respectively), followed by L. erysimi (1.090, 0.087 females/female/day & 6.21x¹³/annum, respectively) and minimum on M. rosae (1.04, 0.042 females/female/day & 5.26x⁶/annum, respectively). The mean length of generation and doubling time were however, recorded minimum on A. craccivora (38.22 & 7.54 days, respectively) and maximum on M. rosae (46.45 & 16.34 days, respectively).