Aphid populations (Hemiptera: Aphidoidea) depend of mulching in watermelon production in the Mediterranean region of Croatia

Abstract

Winged morphs of aphids were investigated under field conditions during 2008, 2010 and 2011 in the Mediterranean region of Croatia. Field experiments were conducted to record aphid diversity and compare polyethylene black mulch to straw mulch and bare soil in terms of their attractiveness to aphid species in a watermelon crop. Aphids were collected weekly using yellow water metal traps from May to July. During the study, 44 species in 31 genera were detected; 36 species in 24 genera were identified in 2008, 18 species in 15 genera were identified in 2010, and 34 species in 25 genera were identified in 2011. The overall seasonal percentage composition showed that Aphis fabae Scopoli and Myzus persicae (Sulzer) were consistently eudominant species, whereas Acyrtosiphon pisum (Harris) was consistently dominant. Cabbage aphid Brevicoryne brassicae (L.) was determined as the dominant species in 2008 and as eudominant species in 2011. Additionally, Macrosiphum rosae (L.) was twice recorded as the dominant species, whereas Aphis gossipii Glover was dominant once, and Phorodon humuli (Schrank) was eudominant once. Our study also demonstrated that mulching sporadically affected the abundance of individual species. The attractiveness of mulching for aphid species differed between the treatments. It was found that bare soil was attractive to A. pisum and M. rosae, black mulch was attractive to B. helichrysi and P. humuli, and straw mulch was attractive to four aphid species, of which two were eudominant, A. fabae and M. persicae. The presented species are mostly polyphagous, and their preference for certain mulches can be used in crop protection management.

Producing sugar beets without neonicotinoids: An evaluation of alternatives for the management of viruses-transmitting aphids

“…In field trials, mulching significantly reduced M. persicae infestations on kale (Silva-Filho et al 2014) and potato (Dupuis et al 2017), leading to a strong decrease in PVY virus incidence. Mulching would disturb the landing behavior of aphids on protected plants (Zanic et al 2013), increases temperatures making them unfavorable to aphid development, and lead to plant defenses induction (Silva-Filho et al 2014). The protective effect of mulching is accentuated when combined with the spraying of paraffin oil, reducing both M. persicae abundance and PYV incidence on potato (Dupuis et al 2017;Rolot et al 2021).…”

Rice-Straw Mulch Reduces the Green Peach Aphid, Myzus persicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) Populations on Kale, Brassica oleracea var. acephala (Brassicaceae) Plants

“…This covering is more significant than the synthetic ones, as it is more economical and does not require removal [10] – [12] , improves the soil by incorporating organic material and does not contaminate the environment [13] – [15] . Mulch can also directly affect the aphid immigration and their populations indirectly by changes in the plant physiology which could lead to the lower landing preference and population growth of these insects [16] – [18] .…”