The Intrinsic Rate of Growth of Soybean aphid,Aphis glycines Matsumura, Under Different Systems of Soybean Production

Abstract

The soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura is an invasive species that first made its appearance in the U.S. in the year 2000 infesting soybean, Glycine max L. Since then the aphid has been very successful in propagating and is now abundant in soybean fields all over the Midwest. The aphids show remarkable population growth, due in part to parthogenetic reproduction, and can go from a few aphids per plant to thousands in a matter of weeks. Yield loss has been recorded as high as 40% for heavily infested fields. In this study an attempt was made to estimate the intrinsic rate of growth, rm, for the aphids for different agronomic treatments. These treatments include conventional, notilling, and zero-chemical input.