FACTORS AFFECTING THE SPREAD OF APHID‐BORNE VIRUSES IN POTATO IN EASTERN SCOTLAND: I. OVERWINTERING OF POTATO APHIDS, PARTICULARLY MYZUS PERSICAE (SULZER)

Three species of potato aphids, Myzus persicae (Sulzer), Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas) and Aulacorthum solani (Kltb.), overwinter in eastern Scotland, primarily as apterae on perennial, glasshouse, frame and brassica crops. Brassica crops are the commonest hosts of overwintering Myzus persicae , the principal vector of potato leaf roll and Y viruses, and these crops are concentrated in the market‐gardening areas of the Lothians and Moray. Although crops of savoy cabbage and brussels sprout often carried numerous M.persicae during the winter, spring cabbage, cabbage for seed and broccoli seem the most important overwintering hosts because they usually persist until mid‐May, long enough to allow the development and dispersal of alatae to spring‐planted crops. Many alatae dispersed during July and August from crops colonized in spring. Although M. persicae overwintered as eggs on peach and viviparously on plants in glasshouses, the influence of such sites, which are generally distributed throughout the main seed‐potato growing areas of Angus, Perth and Fife, was local and unless numerous M. persicae survive the winter on weeds, the market‐garden area of the Lothians is probably the most important source from which this aphid disperses in spring and early summer to colonize potato crops in eastern Scotland.