Resilience and robustness of IPM in protected horticulture in the face of potential invasive pests

A Systematic Review on the Effects of Plant-Feeding by Omnivorous Arthropods: Time to Catch-Up With the Mirid-Tomato Bias?

“…Prey and plant-feeding omnivorous arthropods are increasingly being recognized as providers of valuable and effective pest control services (Albajes and Alomar, 1999;Perdikis et al, 2011;Ågren et al, 2012;Zappala et al, 2013;Pérez-Hedo and Urbaneja, 2015;Beitia et al, 2016;van Lenteren et al, 2018a). Several species of omnivorous predators have proven to be key biocontrol agents of economically-important herbivores, for example in tomato, sweet pepper, and willow crops (Dalin et al, 2011;Calvo et al, 2012;Messelink et al, 2015) and show great promise even for potential invading pests (Pérez-Hedo et al, 2017). One of their main advantages as an alternative or complement to other natural enemies, is that plant-feeding enables their establishment and maintenance before pest infestation or during prey shortage.…”

Living on an unfriendly plant host: impact of tomato on the predatory mite Amblyseius swirskii

“…Spain is the second largest producer after Italy, in the European (Aviron et al, 2016;Messelink et al, 2014). Currently in Europe, the effective management of the tomato key pests (Table 1.1) relies on IPM, in which, biological control is the cornerstone, and it is integrated with either biological or selective insecticides, when necessary (Pérez-Hedo et al 2017). The most important biocontrol agents used in IPM strategies are two mirids, Nesidiocoris tenuis (Reuter), and Macrolophus pygmaeus (Rambur) (Hemiptera: Miridae), which are released and/or conserved, depending on the type of tomato crop and the region (Velden et al 2012;Pérez-Hedo et al 2017) (Figure 1.2).…”

“…Two strategies, based on the use of the two mirids, are currently employed; inoculative releases in crops, during low pest pressure, and the predator-in-first strategy, where the mirids are established already in the seedling nursery (Urbaneja et al, 2012, Pérez-Hedo et al 2017. Other natural enemies used in IPM strategies against the tomato key pests in Europe include parasitoids, predatory mites, predatory flies, two-spotted lady beetles and entomopathogenic microorganisms, as shown on Table 1.1 (Velden et al 2012;Pérez-Hedo et al 2017) (Figure 1.2). In Spain, biological control was applied on protected tomato crops in Catalonia (Northeastern Spain) in the 1970s, and first IPM programmes were based on inoculative releases of the parasitoid Encarsia formosa (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) (Arno et al, 2009).…”

“…The predatory mirid N. tenuis could effectively control T. absoluta, as well as the key pests B. tabaci and T. vaporariorum (Calvo et al, 2009;Sánchez et al, 2014, Arno et al, 2009. Nowadays, in Spanish tomatoes, conventional pesticides are rarely used and IPM based on the use of mirids is widely applied in tomato crops (Pérez-Hedo et al 2017;Arnó et al, 2009). In Europe, tomato key pests are managed either by N. tenuis, or M. pygmaeus, because both mirid predators are highly polyphagous.…”

Enhancing pest management in sweet pepper by the exploitation of zoophytophagy

“…Nursery inoculation will ensure plant robustness before pest outbreak and will delay the infestation due to the repellent effect. Besides, the above described mechanism of plant defences induced by N. tenuis and M. pygmaeus, mirids are essentially predators, and have been successfully used for managing various pests Zappalá et al, 2012, Calvo et al, 2012b, 2012cvan Lenteren et al, 2018;Pérez-Hedo et al, 2017a). In particular, unlike other predatory bugs, the Orius genus is not hampered by glandular trichomes (Coll and Ridgway, 1995), tomato plants represent a very suitable host for mirids (Riudavet and Castañé, 1998;Tavella and Goula, 2001;Urbaneja et al, 2005).…”