Biocontrol Science and Technology (2012) 22, 39-60

Viktor Markó, Gábor Jenser, Krisztina Mihályi, Tamás Hegyi and Klára Balázs (2012)
Flowers for better pest control? Effects of apple orchard groundcover management on mites (Acari), leafminers (Lepidoptera, Scitellidae), and fruit pests
Biocontrol Science and Technology 22 (1), 39-60
Abstract: Flowering companion plants provide nectar, pollen, alternative prey, shelter, and overwintering habitat for arthropod natural enemies and thus might increase their abundance and efficacy in pest control in agricultural fields. We report the results of a 6-year study on the effects of annual and perennial flowering herbs sown in alleys of an apple orchard on phytophagous and predacious mites, leafminer moths and their parasitoids and on pests causing fruit injury. Plots with weed-free bare ground and with regularly mowed grass served as controls. The abundance and diversity of predatory phytoseiid mites increased in the presence of flowering ground cover plants. However, this positive effect on phytoseiids was confined only to spring and autumn and intraguild predation (Typhlodromus pyri gradually displaced Amblyseius andersoni in the presence of flowers) also constrained their enhancement. Spider mites' (Tetranychidae) abundance was low in all years and did not increase with the alley herb coverage. Incidence of the leafminer Leucoptera malifoliella was similar among the treatments despite the higher parasitism rate and parasitoid diversity in the plot with flowering herbs. We demonstrated that in the presence of flowering ground cover plants, the sex ratio of eulophid parasitoids' (mainly Chrysocharis pentheus) reared from L. malifoliella larvae and pupae shifted towards a male bias. Ground cover management had no effect on fruit injury caused by codling moth (Cydia pomonella) and summer fruit tortrix moth (Adoxophyes orana) and on the percentage of apples without insect damage.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Viktor Markó, Gábor Jenser

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
environment/habitat manipulation

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Cydia pomonella	Apple (Malus)
	Adoxophyes orana	Apple (Malus)
	Leucoptera malifoliella	Apple (Malus)
Typhlodromus pyri (predator)
Amblyseius andersoni (predator)
Chrysocharis pentheus (parasitoid)	Leucoptera malifoliella	Apple (Malus)