Preference and performance of western flower thrips

Differences in performance on, and preference for, different plant parts were studied on cucumber plants. On these plants thrips are often most abundant on the youngest plant parts. This suggests that the youngest leaves are most suitable for western flower thrips. We assessed if differences in suitability of leaves of different age could explain the distribution of thrips on cucumber plants. Evidence was obtained for a correlation between preference and performance on cucumber leaves of different age. Differences in performance on, and preference for, different host plant species were studied with selected isofemale lines. Thrips from these isofemale lines showed differences in performance on different host plant species. It was assessed whether these differences in performance were correlated with differences in preference. No clear evidence was obtained for correlations between preference and performance on different host plant species