ABHISHEK SHUKLA AND PARESH R. PATEL

An experiment was laid out at Plant Protection Laboratory, Fruit Research Station, Gandevi during 2007-08 to study the comparative biology of banana aphid, P. nigronervosa, a vector of BBTD in South Gujarat. Six banana cultivars viz., Gandevi Selection (AAA), Grand Naine (AAA), Robusts (AAA), Basrai (AAA), Red banana (AAA) and Rasthali (AAB) were used to find out their effect on growth and development of P. nigronervosa. The newly born 30 nymphs were reared on the leaves of each cultivar and various growth parameters were recorded. Among the six cultivars, Grand Naine (AAA) was the most preferred on which the insect had shortest life cycle (24.96 days) and highest fecundity (29.50 nymphs per female). The nymphs reared on Red banana (AAA) had longest life cycle (34.03 days) and low fecundity (17.86 nymphs per female). No significant differences were recorded in case of body length and width of P. nigronervosa. On the basis of present study the descending order of preference was Grand Naine> Gandevi Selection> Robusta>Basrai > Rasthali> Red banana.