Evaluation of mirid predatory bugs and release strategy for aphid control in sweet pepper

Abstract

Zoophytophagous predators of the family Miridae (Heteroptera), which feed both on plant and prey, often maintain a close relationship with certain host plants. In this study, we aimed to select a suitable mirid predatory bug for aphid control in sweet pepper. Four species were compared: Macrolophus pygmaeus (Rambur), Dicyphus errans (Wolff), Dicyphus tamaninii Wagner and Deraeocoris pallens (Reuter). They were assessed on their establishment on sweet pepper plants with and without supplemental food (eggs of the flour moth Ephestia kuehniella Zeller and decapsulated cysts of the brine shrimp Artemia franciscana Kellogg) and on their effects on aphids with releases before and after aphid infestations. None of the predator species was able to control an established population of aphids on sweet pepper plants; however, the predators M. pygmaeus and D. tamaninii could successfully reduce aphid populations when released prior to an artificially introduced aphid infestation. The best results were achieved with M. pygmaeus in combination with a weekly application of supplemental food. Hence, our results demonstrate that the order and level of plant colonization by mirid predators and aphids determines how successful biological control is. Further studies are needed to evaluate the performance of mirid predatory bugs in sweet pepper crops in commercial greenhouses with multiple pests and natural enemies, in particular to understand how increased variation in food sources affects their feeding behaviour and preferences.

Elliptic Fourier Analysis in the Study of the Male Genitalia to Discriminate Three <em>Macrolophus</em> Species (Hemiptera: Miridae)

“…In the case of these species, M. costalis can easily be separated from the other two by the black tip at the scutellum, but M. pygmaeus and M. melanotoma are cryptic species, extremely similar to one another in external traits [1], which has resulted in misidentifications [2,3]. Macrolophus pygmaeus is an efficient predator of several key pests of vegetable crops in Europe, and it is produced and widely used as a biological control agent, both in greenhouse and field crops [4,5,6,7]. Both species are sympatric in some of their distribution range within the Palearctic region and can share the same host plants.…”

Enhancing pest management in sweet pepper by the exploitation of zoophytophagy

“…Indeed, M. pygmaeus is considered a safe and efficient candidate to be used for sweet pepper IPM strategies in Northern Europe to supplement aphid control (Messelink et al, 2015;Pérez-Hedo and Urbaneja, 2015).…”

“…Facing this need, several reports recently highlighted the positive role of zoophytophagous mirid predators in managing aphids in sweet pepper and other crops Lykouressis, 2004, Messelink et al, 2011a;Messelink et al, 2015;Pérez-Hedo and Urbaneja, 2015;De Backer et al, 2015). Hence, according to these previous encouraging results we focused chapters 4 and 5 of this thesis, on studying the efficiency of predatory mirids in managing sweet pepper pests including thrips, whitefly and aphid.…”

“…Also, fecundity, longevity and preimaginal survival of N. tenuis were observed to increase when the predator was fed E. kuehniella eggs . Thus, addition of E. kuehniella eggs during the first weeks after was reported to increase the population of the predator to very high densities which favoured the control of M. persicae (Messelink et al, 2011a;Messelink et al, 2015). Five weeks after predator release the aphid density remained below 1 aphid per plant, while it exceeded the 1000 aphids per plant in untreated greenhouse plots.…”

“…In recent studies, their importance as biocontrol agents in sweet pepper has been highlighted (Messelink et al, 2011a(Messelink et al, , 2015Pérez-Hedo and Urbaneja, 2015).The use of generalist natural enemies in sweet pepper crops is widely common and has been proven successful (Sánchez and Lacasa, 2002;van Lentren, 2012;van Lentren et al, 2018 (Messelink et al, 2015). Under combined release, intraguild interactions between M. pygmaeus and O. laevigatus did not result in population imbalances of either predatory species, but a better control strategy for both thrips and aphids on sweet pepper resulted (Messelink and Janssen, 2014).…”