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Cowpea, Vigna unguiculata, is an important food crop in many tropical regions. The cowpea aphid, Aphis craccivora, Koch is a key pest of the crop. Olfactometer experiments were conducted in the laboratory to study the influence of host odour and population of conspecifics on apterae and alatae of cowpea aphid Aphis craccivora Koch. Among the four different host plants tested, more number of alatae responded to the allomonal cues emanating from cowpea leaves (1.6,) followed by that from glyricidia (1.4), dolichos (0.4) and groundnut (0.4). Apterous morphs also responded more to cowpea (1.6) followed by dolichos (0.6) groundnut (0.4) and glyricidia (0.2). The maximum retention time recorded inside the olfactometer for alate morph was on cowpea (360 seconds) followed by glyricidia (300seconds).Apterous morph recorded maximum retention time on glyricidia (300seconds) followed by cowpea (240 seconds). In response to host odour perception, it was observed that cowpea was the most preferred host plant to Aphis craccivora followed by glyricidia. More number of alatae and apterae were attracted to cowpea leaves infested with the lowest population density of 10 aphids (3.2, 2.0) followed by 50 (1.6, 1.0), 100 (1.0, 0.6) and 150 (0.8, 0.4) respectively. This behaviour shows their non- preference to already infested leaves.
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