Field Monitoring, Biology and Effects of Insecticides on Development, Survival and Reproduction of Orius Insidiosus (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae)
Abstract
Food security is a major challenge in meeting the demands of a growing human population. Food quantity and quality has been greatly improved in many parts of the world. These improvements can be attributed to the use of natural enemies of pest species like parasitoids and predators released into the crops against pest infestations to improve crop production and protection. Orius insidiosus Say (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) is an important natural enemy of several soft-bodied arthropods like thrips, mites and aphids. The overall objective of this research was to determine methods to conserve O. insidiosus for integrated pest management (IPM) programs by 1) understanding its biology, 2) improving methods of monitoring and attracting field populations, and 3) evaluating effects of reduced-risk insecticides on its development, reproduction and survival. The present studies demonstrate how O. insidiosus can be conserved for IPM programs through an enhanced understanding of its development, survival and reproduction when using Ephestia kuehniella Zeller eggs as a food source and pods of green beans as a moisture source during mass rearing. Insecticides used in cropping systems can affect populations of O. insidiosus in those systems. Lethal and sublethal effects of newer reduced-risk and organophosphate replacement insecticides negatively affected the development and survival of O. insidiosus when compared with the water-treated control treatment. Field studies demonstrate the use of banker plants and herbivore induced plant volatiles (HIPV) can augment O. insidiosus and control thrips populations in sweet pepper. In the banker plant study, Capsicum annuum L. var. ‘Explosive Ember’ and C. annuum var. ‘Purple Flash’ banker plant treatments were compared to control plots without the banker plants. Result from the study showed that there was a significant difference between the ‘Purple Flash’ and control in monitoring of field populations of thrips. However, there were no significant differences among the three experimental treatments in monitoring of field populations of O. insidiosus. While results from the HIPV study involving two experimental treatments (methyl salicylate [MS] and Neryl (S)-2-methylbutanoate [NMB]) and a no-lure control, demonstrated that MS lure is a suitable pest management technique in the effective control of thrips populations on sweet peppers.
Subject Area
Plant sciences|Entomology
Recommended Citation
Uzoamaka Cynthia Abana,
"Field Monitoring, Biology and Effects of Insecticides on Development, Survival and Reproduction of Orius Insidiosus (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae)"
(2019).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI27544353.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI27544353