Prospects for predatory mirid bugs as biocontrol agents of aphids in sweet peppers

Abstract

In recent years, biological control strategies to control many major horticultural pests have been successfully implemented in the Eastern Mediterranean basin. However, the management of some pests, such as aphids in sweet pepper crops, can still be improved. The goal of this study was to examine the potential of the omnivorous predatory mirids Nesidiocoris tenuis, Macrolophus pygmaeus, and Dicyphus maroccanus as biocontrol agents of aphids in sweet pepper crops. First, the capacity to detect Myzus persicae-infested and un-infested plants was studied in a Y-tube olfactometer. Females of the three species of predatory mirids were strongly attracted to the odor of infested M. persicae plants. Second, the prey suitability of young and mature nymphs of M. persicae for these three mirid species was studied. The three species actively preyed on M. persicae, although D. maroccanus resulted the most voracious species preying both young and mature nymphs. Finally, the capacity of the three omnivorous predators to reduce M. persicae in heavily infested plants was determined in semi-field conditions. The three species of mirids could reproduce on aphids and establish on sweet pepper plants. Mirids significantly reduced the number of M. persicae per leaf, reaching levels of aphid reduction close to 100 % when compared to the untreated control. These results suggest that mirids might play a major role in aphid management in sweet peppers. The potential implementation methods of predatory mirids for the biological control in sweet peppers are discussed.

Enhancing pest management in sweet pepper by the exploitation of zoophytophagy

“…Indeed, M. pygmaeus is considered a safe and efficient candidate to be used for sweet pepper IPM strategies in Northern Europe to supplement aphid control (Messelink et al, 2015;Pérez-Hedo and Urbaneja, 2015).…”

“…Their BC can be successfully achieved by the augmentative release of natural enemies (Table 1.1) and the introduction of banker plants. This is true for A. gossypii and M. persicae which can be well controlled in greenhouse sweet pepper; however, the other two species M. euphorbiae and A. solani are not satisfactory managed (Sánchez et al, 2011;Pérez-Hedo and Urbaneja, 2015).…”

“…In this group, predatory mirid bugs (Hemiptera: Miridae) such as Nesidiocoris tenuis Reuter ( Fig.1.5) and Macrolophus pygmaeus Rambur ( Fig.1.6) are important predators of several agriculture pests. (Perdikis and Lykouressis, 2002;Calvo et al, 2009a;van Lentereen, 2012;Urbaenja et al, 2012;Pérez-Hedo and Urbaneja, 2015 -Caudal, 1996;van Lenteren, 2003van Lenteren, , 2012Cock et al, 2010). Both predators feed by inserting the stylet and sucking out the body contents of the prey.…”

“…Facing this need, several reports recently highlighted the positive role of zoophytophagous mirid predators in managing aphids in sweet pepper and other crops Lykouressis, 2004, Messelink et al, 2011a;Messelink et al, 2015;Pérez-Hedo and Urbaneja, 2015;De Backer et al, 2015). Hence, according to these previous encouraging results we focused chapters 4 and 5 of this thesis, on studying the efficiency of predatory mirids in managing sweet pepper pests including thrips, whitefly and aphid.…”

“…In recent studies, their importance as biocontrol agents in sweet pepper has been highlighted (Messelink et al, 2011a(Messelink et al, , 2015Pérez-Hedo and Urbaneja, 2015).The use of generalist natural enemies in sweet pepper crops is widely common and has been proven successful (Sánchez and Lacasa, 2002;van Lentren, 2012;van Lentren et al, 2018 (Messelink et al, 2015). Under combined release, intraguild interactions between M. pygmaeus and O. laevigatus did not result in population imbalances of either predatory species, but a better control strategy for both thrips and aphids on sweet pepper resulted (Messelink and Janssen, 2014).…”