scholarly journals Investigation of biological plant protection in protected culture of pepper

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 15-21
Author(s):  
Viktor József Vojnich ◽  
Hajnalka Darázsi Ledóné ◽  
Adrienn Szarvas ◽  
Árpád Ferencz ◽  
Zsuzsanna Deák ◽  
...  

The aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of regularly applied biological control by continuous monitoring of pests with the help of color traps (sticky sheets) and flower tests with joint species identification of the useful insect to determine the extent to which native useful insects can settle next to the introduced predatory ones. The latter process is to be facilitated by growing a flowering mixture of annual plants at one of the experimental sites, which provides adequate feeding and hiding place for beneficial insects.The experiment was performed in one pepper forcing period. The main pest insects are: western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis), tobacco thrips (Thrips tabaci).Useful insects in the experiment: predatory mites (Amblyseius spp.) and predatory flower bugs (Orius laevigatus).

2003 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 669-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald R. Cook ◽  
Charles T. Allen ◽  
Eugene Burris ◽  
Barry L. Freeman ◽  
Gary A. Herzog ◽  
...  

The common species of thrips that are considered pests of cotton, Gossypium hirsutum (L.), include flower thrips, Frankliniella tritici (Fitch); tobacco thrips, Frankliniella fusca (Hinds); western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande); onion thrips, Thrips tabaci (Lindeman); and soybean thrips, Neohydatothrips variabilis (Beach). Thrips feeding on cotton seedlings can inhibit plant growth, reduce plant stand, delay crop maturity, and reduce seed-cotton yield. Surveys were conducted in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee to determine the thrips species infesting cotton seedlings during 1996 to 1999. Cotton seedlings were sampled weekly between 7 and 48 days after plant emergence at one to four field sites in each state. Over 12,000 thrips adults were collected using plant washing procedures with 9,005 individuals mounted on slides, and identified to species. The tobacco thrips was the most common species collected in all states, except Georgia, and comprised at least 63% of the thrips adults in all instances, except four. The occurrence of flower thrips and soybean thrips was variable; however, neither species accounted for more than 21% of thrips identified in each state. Western flower thrips accounted for less than 15% of adults collected in all instances except two (28% and 30%) in Louisiana. Also, individual specimens of Thrips nigropilosus Uzel and Anophothrips obscurus Müller were collected in Alabama, and several specimens of Microcephalothrips abdominalis (Crawford) were collected in Arkansas and Louisiana.


2009 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Buitenhuis ◽  
L. Shipp ◽  
C. Scott-Dupree

AbstractThe relationships between the predatory mites, Amblyseius swirskii (Athias-Henriot) and Neoseiulus cucumeris (Oudemans) (Acari: Phytoseiidae), and their prey, western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), were investigated to determine the effects of predation on intra-guild or extra-guild prey and predator preference. Life history characteristics of both predatory mites were measured when fed eggs and larvae of the other predator species and compared to data obtained when the predators were fed thrips larvae. In addition, choice tests were conducted to determine if the predators had a preference for different prey or if they were indiscriminate predators. Amblyseius swirskii appears to be an important intra-guild predator of N. cucumeris juveniles because of a high predation rate and a preference for N. cucumeris juveniles over thrips. Neoseiulus cucumeris is also an intra-guild predator of A. swirskii juveniles; however, it has a lower predation rate than A. swirskii. Contrary to intra-guild predation theory, intra-guild prey was an equally good or better food source than thrips (extra-guild prey) for both predators, based on high oviposition rates and fast development times. The results of this study indicate a high potential for negative interactions between A. swirskii and N. cucumeris when used together in biological control of thrips.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Chiapello ◽  
Lara Bosco ◽  
M. Ciuffo ◽  
S. Ottati ◽  
N. Salem ◽  
...  

Frankliniella occidentalis (western flower thrips=WFT) and Thrips tabaci (onion thrips=OT) are insect species that greatly impact horticultural crops through direct damage and their efficient vectoring of tomato spotted wilt virus and iris yellow spot virus. In this study we collected thrips of these species from 12 field populations in various regions in Italy. We also included one field population of Neohydatothrips variabilis (soybean thrips=ST) from the U.S.A. Total RNAseq from high-throughput sequencing (HTS) was used to assemble the virome and then we assigned putative viral contigs to each thrips sample by qRT-PCR. Excluding plant and fungal viruses, we were able to identify 61 viral segments, corresponding to 41 viruses: 14 were assigned to WFT, 17 to OT, one from ST and 9 viruses could not be assigned to any species based on our stringent criteria. All these viruses are putative representative of new species (with only the exception of a sobemo-like virus that is 100% identical to a virus recently characterized in ST) and some belong to new higher-ranking taxa. These additions to the viral phylogeny suggest previously undescribed evolutionary niches. Most of the Baltimore’s classes of RNA viruses were present (positive- and minus- strand and dsRNA viruses), but only one DNA virus was identified in our collection. Repeated sampling in a subset of locations in 2019 and 2020 and further virus characterization in a subset of four thrips populations maintained in laboratory allowed us to provide evidence of a locally persistent thrips core virome that characterizes each population. IMPORTANCE Harnessing the insect microbiome can result in new approaches to contain their populations or the damage they cause vectoring viruses of medical, veterinary, or agricultural importance. Persistent insect viruses are a neglected component of their microbiota. Here for the first time, we characterize the virome associated with the two model systems for tospovirus-transmitting thrips species, of utmost importance for the direct and indirect damage they cause to a number of different crops. The thrips virome here characterized includes several novel viruses, that in some cases reveal previously undescribed clades. More importantly, some of the viruses we describe are part of a core virome that is specific and consistently present in distinct geographical locations monitored over the years, hinting at a possible mutualistic symbiotic relationship with their host.


Insects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 423
Author(s):  
Niklas Stukenberg ◽  
Markus Pietruska ◽  
Axel Waldherr ◽  
Rainer Meyhöfer

The western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis) is a serious pest in horticulture, feeding on leaf tissue and floral resources. Blue and yellow sticky traps are commonly used for monitoring and control in greenhouses. The mechanisms underlying the color preferences are largely unknown. The use of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is a promising approach to increase the attractiveness of visual traps and to study the color choice behavior in insects. The color preferences of F. occidentalis were systematically investigated in a series of choice experiments with several LEDs from the ultraviolet (UV) and visible spectral range. Blue LEDs were most attractive, followed by green, while only a moderate attractiveness of UV was observed. Blue and green were identified as two separate attractive ranges. When light from blue and green LEDs was mixed, the attractiveness decreased compared to its single components. In conclusion, F. occidentalis exhibits two different wavelength specific behaviors towards blue and green. Compelling indications are provided that these behaviors are controlled by two photoreceptors maximally sensitive in the blue and green range with an inhibitory chromatic interaction between both. Since the known UV sensitive photoreceptor could be confirmed, a trichromatic photoreceptor setup is suggested for F. occidentalis. For advanced plant protection strategies, the results offer several opportunities to optimize monitoring or even develop mass trapping devices.


1992 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve L. Brown ◽  
James E. Brown

In each of 3 years, the average number of thrips in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L. cv. Mountain Pride) blooms was greater on tomatoes grown on white plastic mulch than on tomatoes grown on black plastic mulch, aluminum plastic mulch, or bare ground. Early season differences, however, diminished with time as plants grew and shaded a larger portion of plastic mulch. Weekly applications of 12 insecticide treatments failed to reduce thrips populations below that found in the control. No significant differences were found among treatments in the quantity, quality, or earliness of tomato yields. Incidence of tomato spotted wilt (vectored by some thrips species) was too low to detect statistical differences or determine the importance of thrips population in disease epidemiology. Western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis) was the most common species found, followed by eastern flower thrips (F. tritici) and tobacco thrips (F. fusca). Thrips control, in the absence of tomato spotted wilt, is not justified for the thrips populations encountered in this study.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Reitz

Abstract Since the 1970s Frankliniella occidentalis has successfully invaded many countries to become one of the most important agricultural pests of ornamental, vegetable and fruit crops globally. Its invasiveness is largely attributed to the international movement of plant material and insecticide resistance, both of which have combined to foster the rapid spread of the species throughout the world (Kirk and Terry, 2003; Reitz et al., 2020). Individuals are very small and they reside in concealed places on plants; thus are easily hidden and hard to detect in transported plant material. They reproduce rapidly and are highly polyphagous, breeding on many horticultural crops that are transported around the world. F. occidentalis is species no. 177 on the list of A2 pests regulated as quarantine pests in the European Plant Protection Organisation (EPPO) region (version 2005-09). It has now reached many countries, and remains a serious threat to crops in those countries that it has not yet reached.


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