FACTORS AFFECTING THE SPREAD OF APHID-BORNE VIRUSES IN POTATO IN EASTERN SCOTLAND: II. INFESTATION OF THE POTATO CROP BY POTATO APHIDS, PARTICULARLY MYZUS PERSICAE (SULZER)

Surveys in the years 1954-56 showed that potato crops in most districts of eastern Scotland were infested by the aphids Myzus persicae (Sulz.), Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas) and Aulacorthum solani (Kltb.). Crops in different districts became infested by Myzus persicae at different times and to different extents, and these differences seemed consistent between years. Crops in the Edinburgh area were colonized between mid-May and mid-June, whereas crops in north Perthshire escaped infestation until the end of July or mid-August. The time and degree of infestation by M. persicae seems correlated with distance from sites where this aphid overwinters. Trap records show that many alate M. persicae disperse from outdoor brassica and early potato crops in the Edinburgh area between mid-July and mid-August, a period during which potato crops in Fife, Angus and Perthshire usually become infested. The freedom of crops in the better seed-producing areas from widespread infection by potato leaf roll and Y viruses is probably associated with lateness of aphid infestation rather than scarcity of aphid vectors.