DINAMIKA POPULASI PENTALONIA NIGRONERVOSA COQ. (HEMIPTERA: APHIDIDAE) PADA TANAMAN ZINGIBERACEAE
Daftar Isi:
- Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) is a causal agent of banana bunchy top disease (BBTD), a very economically important disease because the infected banana would not produce fruit. The virus is known to infect only banana plant and is transmitted by banana aphid Pentalonia nigronervosa persistently and sirculatively. The banana aphid has not only banana as its host, but also lives and breeds on other plants as alternative hosts. Some of the alternative host belong to Family Zingiberaceae. Considering that there are many zingiberaceous plant surrounding banana plantations, it is necessary to understand the most suitable zingiberaceous alternative host to the aphid. In this research, three species of zingiberaceous plants were used, namely greater galangal, turmeric and Javanese ginger, the most frequently found zingiberaceous plant in the banana field. The objective of this research was to know the development of P. nigronervosa on the three zingiberaeous plant species, which could be used as consideration in the control of BBTV and BBTD. The results showed that P. nigronervosa could live and breed on all of the zingiberaeous plant tested but with different fecundity and growth rate. Greater galangal was found to be an alternative host on which P. nigronervosa could develop well, followed by turmeric and Javanese ginger. The development of P. nigronervosa on the three zingiberaceous hosts was fluctuated but tent to decrease after reaching each population peak. The decrease of population on growing host could not be fully understood, but might be due to the characteristic of the aphid because under natural condition also quite difficult to find the aphid under high population for log time in the same area or the same host.