Pest Management Science (2020) 76, 3551-3559

Marianne A. Soares, Geraldo A. Carvalho, Mateus R. Campos, Luis C. Passos, Marcelo M. Haro, Anne-Violette Lavoir, Antonio Biondi, Lucia Zappalà and Nicolas Desneux (2020)
Detrimental sublethal effects hamper the effective use of natural and chemical pesticides in combination with a key natural enemy of Bemisia tabaci on tomato
Pest Management Science 76 (11), 3551-3559
Abstract:
Background
Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) represents one of the greatest threats to agricultural crops. Chemical control is the primary tool used in integrated pest management (IPM) programs. However, release of the predator Nesidiocoris tenuis (Hemiptera: Miridae) on tomato plants is a highly recommended control tactic. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a commercial borax plus citrus oil (BCO) product against B. tabaci in the presence and absence of N. tenuis. The synthetic insecticide lambda-cyhalothrin was used as a positive control. We also evaluated the sublethal effects of BCO on the behavior and predation rate of N. tenuis.
Results
Our results demonstrated that BCO, alone and at its maximum recommended field rate for B. tabaci, was not effective in controlling the pest under laboratory conditions. Application of BCO simultaneous with N. tenuis release did not reduce the increase in the B. tabaci population. Effective control of B. tabaci was achieved using only N. tenuis. However, synthetic lambda-cyhalothrin pyrethroid, used here as a control, caused high pest mortality and led to on-site extinction of N. tenuis, which did not occur for insects exposed to BCO. Lambda-cyhalothrin and BCO significantly affected the foraging behavior of N. tenuis, reducing the predation rate, especially following exposure to lambda-cyhalothrin.
Conclusion
The insecticide lambda-cyhalothrin achieved satisfactory results in suppressing B. tabaci, but was harmful to N. tenuis. Additionally, lambda-cyhalothrin and BCO affected predator behavior.
(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): Geraldo Andrade Carvalho, Antonio Biondi, Lucia Zappala, Nicolas Desneux

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
control - general
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
application technology
resistance to pesticides

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
Nesidiocoris tenuis (predator)