The green peach aphid, Myzus persicae (Sulzer), is one of the most important aphid pests on pepper. Aphidius matricariae Haliday and Praon volucre (Haliday) are known as biological control agents for aphids in vegetable crops. In this research, age-specific functional responses of these two parasitoids were evaluated on different densities of 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64 green peach aphids. Type of functional response varied from type II to type III for different ages of A. matricariae, but type of functional response was not affected by female age for P. volucre. The functional response of P. volucre was determined as type II in the whole parasitoid lifetime. The searching efficiency (a), b, and handling time (T ) were estimated using the Rogers equations. The highest searching efficiency (a) and lowest handling time were observed during the first half of lifetime of A. matricariae and P. volucre. Aphidius matricariae and P. volucre caused reasonable mortality of the green peach aphid by parasitism of 52.17 and 47.05 host aphids, respectively, in 24 h. Therefore, they are suggested as suitable candidates for control of M. persicae in pepper greenhouses.

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Host stage preference, functional response and mutual interference of Diaeretiella rapae (McIntosh) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae) on Diuraphis noxia (Mordvilko) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) were investigated under defined laboratory conditions (20±1°C; 60±5% relative humidity; 16 h light/8 h dark photoperiod). Nicholson’s model and linear regression were used to determine per capita search-efficiency and the interference coefficient, respectively. There was a significant difference between the rates of parasitism on different stages of D. noxia. The highest parasitism percentage was observed on the third instar nymphs of D. noxia in both choice and no-choice preference tests. Results of logistic regression revealed a type II functional response. The estimated values of search-efficiency (a) and handling time (Th) were 0.072 h-1 and 0.723 h, respectively. The maximum attack rate was calculated to be 33.22. The per capita search-efficiency decreased from 0.011 to 0.004 (h-1) as parasitoid densities increased from 1 to 8. Therefore, different host-parasitoid ratios can affect the efficacy of D. rapae

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Sipha maydis (Passerini) is a pest of Poaceae in many cereal-growing area of the world and Iran. The effects of temperature on biology and life table were investigated at five constant temperatures (15, 20, 25, 30 and 32.5±1°C), 60±5% relative humidity (RH) and a photoperiod of 16L : 8D h. The results indicated that aphids failed to complete development at 32.5°C. Developmental time was ranged between 17.28 to 9.55 days at 15 and 30°C, respectively. The lower developmental threshold (T0) and thermal constant of S. maydis were estimated to be –5.52°C and 332.22 degree-days, respectively. The Analytis-3/Briere-1 model (as non linear model) is highly recommended for the description of temperature dependent development of S. maydis. The highest life expectancy of adults at emergence was 33.35 days at 20°C. The mean adult longevity of females and nymphipositional period were the highest at 20°C. The mean lifetime fecundity at 15, 20, 25 and 30°C were 21.24±1.97, 44.82±3.18, 22.25±2.33 and 16.39±1.15 nymphs/female, respectively. The survivorship curves of S. maydis were type I at 20 and 25°C (H < 0.5) and type III at 15 and 30°C (H > 0.5). The highest and lowest values of intrinsic rate of increase (rm) were observed at 20 (0.173±0.012 females/female/day) and 15°C (0.109±0.003 females/female/ /day), respectively. The growth index (GI) at 15, 20, 25 and 30°C were 0.033, 0.069, 0.062 and 0.038, respectively. According to this research the optimum temperature for population growth of S. maydis was 20°C. Our findings provide fundamental information and when this information is used in association with other ecological data, it may be valuable in development and implementation of management programs of S. maydis.

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