Exploring the Role of Supplemental Foods for Improved Greenhouse Biological Control

Abstract

Small modifications in greenhouse agroenvironments can have a big impact on the success of biological control programs. For instance, the application of supplemental foods during and after the release of natural enemies onto crop plants, could considerably improve their long-term reproductive and population growth prospects. As such, food supplementation represents a valuable biological control supportive strategy, helping to grow natural enemy populations before pest establishment, akin to creating a standing-army to defend crops against future pest invasions. In many places of the world, food supplementation represents a relatively new but growing component or biological control research, with increasingly better resources available to guide producers, IPM practitioners, or researchers wanting to apply or optimize such strategies to their local agents and environments. In this review, we summarize the current stage of knowledge associated with various supplemental food types, which work best to support specific beneficial arthropods as well as some tools and techniques for successfully applying this biological control-enhancing strategy. We also summarize some current challenges to the use of supplemental foods and discuss what future research is needed to adapt and optimize food supplementation for a diversity of natural enemy species.

Effects of supplementary pollen on the life history traits of predatory mite Euseius nicholsi across generations

“…Similar effects were also witnessed in other studies with predatory mites and other species (Benson & Labbe, 2021; Ebrahimifar et al, 2020). Even though many studies proved that many kinds of pollen could support the development and reproduction of predators in the absence of prey, there was evidence showing that some pollen could not be exploited by predators due to their special morphology characters, such as thick exine and long spin of the pollen surface (Goleva & Zebitz, 2013).…”

“…Supplementary food for predatory mites extensively evaluated by researchers includes moth eggs, shrimp cysts, astigmatid mites and plant‐derived materials such as pollen (Vangansbeke et al, 2014; Nguyen et al, 2019; Pirayeshfar et al, 2021; Yazdanpanah, Fathipour, & Riahi, 2021; Li et al, 2021; reviewed in Benson & Labbe, 2021). Among them, pollen was one of the most extensively studied alternative food in previous studies.…”

Storage Potential of the Predatory Ladybird Cheilomenes propinqua in Relation to Temperature, Humidity, and Factitious Food

“…Moreover, the mortality of fed females stored for up to 12 days at temperatures of 17–27 °C was still not higher than 10%, although in the absence of food they could be stored at 12–17 °C for not more than 6 days. In greenhouses, C. propinqua can be successfully used for the biological control of aphids by preventing colonization (a “standing army” approach [ 4 , 5 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]). Indeed, considering the 20-day viability of adults after long storage, their biweekly releases would be enough to protect the plants without even relying on the predators’ progeny.…”

“…Indeed, considering the 20-day viability of adults after long storage, their biweekly releases would be enough to protect the plants without even relying on the predators’ progeny. It should, however, be noted that the application of this method would require the regular supplementation of factitious food, as is also recommended by many biocontrol practitioners [ 4 , 5 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ]. Storage for more than 10 days at temperatures of 7 °C and lower results in the 100% mortality of both starved and fed females of C. propinqua.…”

“…In greenhouses, C. propinqua can be successfully used for the biological control of aphids by preventing colonization (a “standing army” approach [ 4 , 5 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]). Indeed, considering the 20-day viability of adults after long storage, their biweekly releases would be enough to protect the plants without even relying on the predators’ progeny.…”