Can Insectary Plants Enhance the Presence of Natural Enemies of the Green Peach Aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in Mediterranean Peach Orchards?

Abstract

Conservation biological control could be an alternative to insecticides for the management of the aphid Myzus persicae (Sulzer). To develop sustainable strategies for M. persicae control in peach orchards in the Mediterranean, a 2-yr field experiment was conducted to identify the key predators of the aphid; to determine whether the proximity of insectary plants boost natural enemies of M. persicae in comparison to the resident vegetation; and whether selected insectary plants enhance natural enemy populations in the margins of peach orchards. Aphidoletes aphidimyza Rondani (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) and Episyrphus balteatus De Geer (Diptera: Syrphidae) were the most abundant predators found among sentinel aphid colonies, accounting for 57% and 26%, respectively. Samplings during 2015 yielded twice as many hoverflies in M. persicae sentinel plants close to the insectary plants as those close to the resident vegetation. The abundance of other natural enemies in sentinel plants, depending on their proximity to the insectary plants, was not significantly different in either of the 2 yr. Hoverflies hovered more often over the insectary plants than over the resident vegetation and landed significantly more often on Lobularia maritima (L.) Desv., Moricandia arvensis (L.) DC., and Sinapis alba L. (Brassicales: Brassicaceae) than on Achillea millefollium L. (Asterales: Compositae). Parasitoids were significantly more abundant in L. maritima and A. millefollium. The vicinity of selected insectary plants to peach orchards could improve the presence of hoverflies, which might benefit the biological control of M. persicae.

Using flower strips to promote green lacewings to control cabbage insect pests

“…This involves the introduction of non-crop vegetation with the aim of providing beneficial arthropods with shelter, overwintering sites, alternative prey and food resources (Landis et al 2000;Gurr et al 2017). Over the last decades, the use of flower strips in cultivated fields in order to enhance plant diversity has attracted growing interest from researchers, farmers and practitioners (Haaland and Gyllin 2011;Penvern et al 2019;Aparicio et al 2021). Annual and perennial flower strips have been shown to increase beneficial arthropod diversity and biological pest control (Fiedler et al 2008;Tschumi et al 2016;Cahenzli et al 2019;Albrecht et al 2020).…”

Selection of insectary plants for the conservation of biological control agents of aphids and thrips in fruit orchards

“…Similarly, measurements were made on the width of the head and the thorax of several natural enemies of aphids and thrips already sighted in the study area (Aparicio et al ., 2019, 2021; Rodríguez-Gasol et al ., 2019), including: Aphidius matricariae Haliday, Aphidius ervi Haliday, Lysiphlebus testaceipes Cresson, (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), Aphelinus abdominalis Dalman, Aphelinus mali Haldemann, (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae), Aphidoletes aphidimyza Rondani (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), Orius majusculus Reuter (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) and Aeolothrips intermedius Bagnall (Thysanoptera: Aeolothripidae). O. majusculus were obtained from the colony kept in the IRTA laboratory.…”

“…By contrast, only one species, Ceranisus menes (Walker) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), parasitizes F. occidentalis in Mediterranean agroecosystems, although this species only plays a minor role in thrips control (Loomans, 2006). In Spain, several predatory groups (Coccinellidae, Chrysopidae, Anthocoridae, Syrphidae and Aeolothripidae) have also been recorded from peach and apple orchards (Miñarro et al ., 2005; Davidson et al ., 2014; Rodríguez-Gasol et al ., 2019; Aparicio et al ., 2021).…”

Ground cover vegetation promotes biological control and yield in pear orchards

“…The adoption of ground cover vegetation in orchard has shown to be a potential way to promote biological pest control by natural enemies and associated ecosystem services (Alvarez, Morente, et al., 2021; Aparicio et al., 2021; Blaise et al., 2021; Mateos‐Fierro et al., 2021). Furthermore, its role on functional biodiversity (e.g.…”

“…Similarly, culturing engineering of ground cover vegetation is also a valuable strategy for promoting agricultural biodiversity (Ricci et al., 2019; Riordan et al., 2020) and biocontrol services. The use of different ground cover vegetations in place of bare soil has been promoted and adopted with positive results in many orchard systems, such as olive (Alvarez, Morente, Campos, et al., 2019; Alvarez, Jiménez‐Muñoz, et al., 2021; Alvarez, Morente, et al., 2021; Alvarez, Morente, Oi, et al., 2019), cherry (Mateos‐Fierro et al., 2021), peach (Aparicio et al., 2021; Musacchi et al., 2021; Wan, Gu, et al., 2014; Wan, Ji, et al., 2014, 2018), apple (Santos et al., 2018), vineyards (Blaise et al., 2021; Geldenhuys et al., 2021; Judt et al., 2019), coffee and tea plantations (Chen et al., 2019; Jimenez‐Soto et al., 2019). In China, ground cover vegetation of white clover ( Trifolium repens ) and hairy vetch ( Vicia villosa ) have been adopted in orchards since the 1990s to promote biological control of insects and to improve soil fertility (Wan, Gu, et al., 2014; Wan, Ji, et al., 2014; Yi et al., 2010).…”