Oviposition Preference and Larval Performance of Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae), Spotted-Wing Drosophila: Effects of Fruit Identity and Composition

Abstract

A better understanding of the factors affecting host plant use by spotted-wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) could aid in the development of efficient management tools and practices to control this pest. Here, proxies of both preference (maternal oviposition behavior) and performance (adult emergence) were evaluated for 12 different fruits in the form of purees. The effect of the chemical composition of the fruits on preference and performance traits was then estimated. We synthesized the literature to interpret our findings in the light of previous studies that measured oviposition preference and larval performance of D. suzukii. We show that fruit identity influences different parts of the life cycle, including oviposition preference under both choice and no-choice conditions, emergence rate, development time, and number of emerging adults. Blackcurrant was always among the most preferred fruit we used, while grape and tomato were the least preferred fruits. Larvae performed better in cranberry, raspberry, strawberry, and cherry than in the other fruits tested. We found that fruit chemical compounds can explain part of the effect of fruit on D. suzukii traits. In particular, oviposition preference under choice conditions was strongly influenced by fruit phosphorus content. In general, the consensus across studies is that raspberry, blackberry, and strawberry are among the best hosts while blackcurrant, grape and rose hips are poor hosts. Our results generally confirm this view but also suggest that oviposition preferences do not necessarily match larval performances. We discuss opportunities to use our results to develop new approaches for pest management.

Effects of Variety and Grape Berry Condition of Vitis vinifera on Preference Behavior and Performance of Drosophila suzukii

“…The lower offspring performance in berries of "Regent" in the test against "Müller-Thurgau" may be explained by the fact that the number of eggs per berry tended to be higher than in the latter test, in which berries of "Regent" were tested against "Pinot Noir." Thus, the adult emergence rate may decrease with increasing egg density due to intraspecific competition [18]. Variation in offspring performance among these two dual-choice assays may also be explained by potential differences in the microbial community on the surface of single grape berries [18,49].…”

“…Thus, the adult emergence rate may decrease with increasing egg density due to intraspecific competition [18]. Variation in offspring performance among these two dual-choice assays may also be explained by potential differences in the microbial community on the surface of single grape berries [18,49]. Finally, subtle differences in fruit chemical composition and potentially also physical properties [26] influence the overall development of larvae in the fruits.…”

“…For D. suzukii, positive relationships between adult preferences and offspring performance were indeed observed, e.g., in bioassays with wild and cultivated blueberries and in choice and no-choice assays using artificial diets with different protein-to-carbohydrate ratios [26,30]. In contrast, preference and performance did not match on different Prunus species [12] or when testing purees of different fruits [18].…”

“…Recent studies indicate that D. suzukii shows preferences for certain fruit species and varieties but not all preferred hosts are suitable for larval development and are, thus, so-called dead-end hosts [4,5,10]. While previous research has mainly focused on the susceptibility of berry crops [11][12][13], little information is available on the infestation of grape berries, an only occasionally infested host [14][15][16], as well as on factors driving differences in susceptibility between host species and varieties [17][18][19]. The prevailing uncertainty about the risk of damage by D. suzukii arising for wine production has resulted in management strategies mainly based on the prophylactic use of broad-spectrum insecticides.…”

Near-chromosome level genome assembly of the fruit pestDrosophila suzukiiusing long-read sequencing

“…This species is still expanding its distribution (Cini, Ioriratti, & Anfora, 2012;Deprá, Poppe, Schmitz, De Toni, & Valente, 2014) and is classified as a major pest on a variety of berries and stone fruit crops (Asplen et al, 2015). Its behavior and phenotypic traits are now the subject of intense scrutiny both in the lab and in the field (reviewed in (Olazcuaga, Rode, et al, 2019)).…”