Effects of Different Foliar-applied Nitrogen Fertilizers on Balsam Woolly Aphid

Abstract

Balsam woolly aphids were reared on young grand fir trees maintained in controlled environment or outdoors. Solutions of various nitrogen fertilizers were applied repeatedly to the trees and the effects on aphids and bark amino acids were studied. On trees fertilized with ammonium nitrate or a sequence of compounds, aphid population growth was less than on trees fertilized with urea or potassium ammonium nitrate. On urea-fertilized trees, populations multiplied 16.5 times in five generations, compared with a 5.7-fold increase on unfertilized trees and a 1.4-fold increase on ammonium nitrate-fertilized trees. These differences resulted from effects of these nutrients on aphid life history. Urea promoted aphid establishment and reproduction, whereas ammonium nitrate affected these processes, as well as survival, adversely. The highest establishment and survival rates resulted from potassium ammonium nitrate.These differences may be related to fertilizer-induced changes in the amino acid diet of the aphid. Thin layer electrophoresis and chromatography revealed that urea, ammonium nitrate, and calcium nitrate each increased arginine concentrations in the bark, the highest levels resulting from ammonium nitrate. Traces of phenylalanine and asparagine, found in other treatments, were absent from trees fertilized with ammonium nitrate during June.