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Optimizing the Use of Basil as a Functional Plant for the Biological Control of Aphids by Chrysopa pallens (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) in Greenhouses

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Functional plants can be deployed at the field, farm, and landscape scale, where they are beneficial to natural enemies, thus contributing to improved pest control. To explore how non-crop plants can augment the biological control of pests, this study aimed to assess how basil (Ocimu...

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Autores principales: Fang, Yan, Li, Shu, Xu, Qingxuan, Wang, Jie, Yang, Yajie, Mi, Yingying, Jin, Zhenyu, Desneux, Nicolas, Wang, Su
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9225561/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35735889
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects13060552
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author Fang, Yan
Li, Shu
Xu, Qingxuan
Wang, Jie
Yang, Yajie
Mi, Yingying
Jin, Zhenyu
Desneux, Nicolas
Wang, Su
author_facet Fang, Yan
Li, Shu
Xu, Qingxuan
Wang, Jie
Yang, Yajie
Mi, Yingying
Jin, Zhenyu
Desneux, Nicolas
Wang, Su
author_sort Fang, Yan
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Functional plants can be deployed at the field, farm, and landscape scale, where they are beneficial to natural enemies, thus contributing to improved pest control. To explore how non-crop plants can augment the biological control of pests, this study aimed to assess how basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) (Lamiales: Lamiaceae), as a functional plant, affected the lacewing Chrysopa pallens (Rambur) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) in the laboratory and greenhouse. The results showed that in the presence of the target prey (peach aphid; Myzus persicae (Sulzer)), both the vegetative and flowering stages of basil enhanced C. pallens (early-age) fecundity and longevity as compared to a control treatment in the laboratory. Similarly, lacewing colonization patterns were modulated by the basil planting density and spatial arrangement in the greenhouse. Under high density intercrop basil arrangements, C. pallens colonization rates were the highest, the populations persisted longer in the crop, and the aphid numbers declined more rapidly. This work showed how basil enhanced the fitness attributes of a generalist predatory lacewing and benefitted aphid biological control in a short time. It can inform the development of economically sound management strategies to attain pest control with minimum inputs. ABSTRACT: Effective biological control agents that can provide sustainable pest control need to be researched in further detail; functional plants (or non-crop insectary plants), in particular, are garnering increased research interest. Much remains to be learned as to how non-crop plants can augment biological control in greenhouse systems. In this study, we combined laboratory and greenhouse assays to assess the extent to which basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) (Lamiales: Lamiaceae) affected the biological control of aphids by the predatory lacewing Chrysopa pallens (Rambur) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae). In the presence of the target prey (peach aphid; Myzus persicae (Sulzer)), both the vegetative and flowering stages of basil enhanced C. pallens longevity and (early-age) fecundity as compared to a control treatment. When basil plants were established near aphid infested eggplants (Solanum melongena L.), the C. pallens colonization rate improved by 72–92% in the short-term. Lacewing colonization patterns were modulated by the basil planting density and spatial arrangement (i.e., perimeter planting vs. intercropping). Under high density intercrop arrangements, C. pallens colonization rates were highest, its populations persisted longer in the crop, and the aphid numbers declined more rapidly. Our work shows how basil enhanced the key fitness attributes of a generalist predatory lacewing and benefitted aphid biological control in a greenhouse setting.
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spelling pubmed-92255612022-06-24 Optimizing the Use of Basil as a Functional Plant for the Biological Control of Aphids by Chrysopa pallens (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) in Greenhouses Fang, Yan Li, Shu Xu, Qingxuan Wang, Jie Yang, Yajie Mi, Yingying Jin, Zhenyu Desneux, Nicolas Wang, Su Insects Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Functional plants can be deployed at the field, farm, and landscape scale, where they are beneficial to natural enemies, thus contributing to improved pest control. To explore how non-crop plants can augment the biological control of pests, this study aimed to assess how basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) (Lamiales: Lamiaceae), as a functional plant, affected the lacewing Chrysopa pallens (Rambur) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) in the laboratory and greenhouse. The results showed that in the presence of the target prey (peach aphid; Myzus persicae (Sulzer)), both the vegetative and flowering stages of basil enhanced C. pallens (early-age) fecundity and longevity as compared to a control treatment in the laboratory. Similarly, lacewing colonization patterns were modulated by the basil planting density and spatial arrangement in the greenhouse. Under high density intercrop basil arrangements, C. pallens colonization rates were the highest, the populations persisted longer in the crop, and the aphid numbers declined more rapidly. This work showed how basil enhanced the fitness attributes of a generalist predatory lacewing and benefitted aphid biological control in a short time. It can inform the development of economically sound management strategies to attain pest control with minimum inputs. ABSTRACT: Effective biological control agents that can provide sustainable pest control need to be researched in further detail; functional plants (or non-crop insectary plants), in particular, are garnering increased research interest. Much remains to be learned as to how non-crop plants can augment biological control in greenhouse systems. In this study, we combined laboratory and greenhouse assays to assess the extent to which basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) (Lamiales: Lamiaceae) affected the biological control of aphids by the predatory lacewing Chrysopa pallens (Rambur) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae). In the presence of the target prey (peach aphid; Myzus persicae (Sulzer)), both the vegetative and flowering stages of basil enhanced C. pallens longevity and (early-age) fecundity as compared to a control treatment. When basil plants were established near aphid infested eggplants (Solanum melongena L.), the C. pallens colonization rate improved by 72–92% in the short-term. Lacewing colonization patterns were modulated by the basil planting density and spatial arrangement (i.e., perimeter planting vs. intercropping). Under high density intercrop arrangements, C. pallens colonization rates were highest, its populations persisted longer in the crop, and the aphid numbers declined more rapidly. Our work shows how basil enhanced the key fitness attributes of a generalist predatory lacewing and benefitted aphid biological control in a greenhouse setting. MDPI 2022-06-16 /pmc/articles/PMC9225561/ /pubmed/35735889 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects13060552 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Fang, Yan
Li, Shu
Xu, Qingxuan
Wang, Jie
Yang, Yajie
Mi, Yingying
Jin, Zhenyu
Desneux, Nicolas
Wang, Su
Optimizing the Use of Basil as a Functional Plant for the Biological Control of Aphids by Chrysopa pallens (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) in Greenhouses
title Optimizing the Use of Basil as a Functional Plant for the Biological Control of Aphids by Chrysopa pallens (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) in Greenhouses
title_full Optimizing the Use of Basil as a Functional Plant for the Biological Control of Aphids by Chrysopa pallens (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) in Greenhouses
title_fullStr Optimizing the Use of Basil as a Functional Plant for the Biological Control of Aphids by Chrysopa pallens (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) in Greenhouses
title_full_unstemmed Optimizing the Use of Basil as a Functional Plant for the Biological Control of Aphids by Chrysopa pallens (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) in Greenhouses
title_short Optimizing the Use of Basil as a Functional Plant for the Biological Control of Aphids by Chrysopa pallens (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) in Greenhouses
title_sort optimizing the use of basil as a functional plant for the biological control of aphids by chrysopa pallens (neuroptera: chrysopidae) in greenhouses
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9225561/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35735889
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects13060552
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