The vegetable beetle Phaedon brassicae Baly is an important pest in South China. The experiment was conducted in field in 1996 and six varieties of vegetable (water cress Nasturtium officinale R. Br., Chinese kale Brassica alboglabra Bailey, leaf mustard Brassica juncea (L. ) Coss var. foliosa Bailey, turnip Raphanus sativus L. flowering cabbage Brassica capestris L. ssp. chinensis var. utilis Tsen et Lee, Chinese cabbage Brassica capestris L. ssp. chinensis (L. ) Makino var. communis Tsen et Lee) were used to study the effects of vegetables on the development, survival and oviposition of vegetable beetle. The results showed that the development duration of the beetles feeding on Chinese hale(28. 36 days) was significantly longer than that on other vegetables while the longest development duration was got on Chinese cabbage. The survival rate of the beetles on Chinese cabbage was 86. 99% while 42. 48% of survival was got on Chinese kale. The vegetable beetle preferred to lay their eggs on Chinese cabbage (124. 10 eggs), but only 1. 70 eggs laid on Chinese hale. It was demonstrated that Chinese cabbage was good for the beetle development, survival and oviposition, but Chinese hale showed an inhibit effects on the beetles.