Abstract
In agroecosystems, the efficiency of biocontrol agents could be improved through the artificial selection of specific traits that would enhance their zoophagy level. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of artificially selected populations of the omnivorous predatory bug, Nabis americoferus, on the tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris, in organic strawberry crops. Six populations of N. americoferus were selected according to their aggressiveness, three were composed of highly aggressive individuals, whereas the other lines contained docile individuals. The first hypothesis was that, since aggressive predators display a higher attack rate, aggressive lines would exhibit a higher pest control and a better crop protection than docile lines. The second hypothesis was that, when two biocontrol agents species are used conjointly, the presence of at least one docile population would generate a higher synergy between both species. N. americoferus populations were released in an experimental strawberry field, with or without a second intraguild predator, the Anthocorid, Orius insidiosus. Results support the first hypothesis that the aggressive lines generate a better pest control and a better strawberries crop protection than docile lines but only at low pest density. The second hypothesis is neither supported nor rejected since the combination of docile lines and O. insidiosus led to a better pest control at high pest density, but led to a reduced crop protection at low pest density. Our study shows that the artificial selection of aggressiveness has the potential to improve the effectiveness of biocontrol programs.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Chiara Chelo for her help with the rearing, data collection and field maintenance. Thanks also to Anaïs Douteur for her help with the rearing. We also thank all the team of the CRAM and the various intern student present for their help concerning the plantation of strawberry plants and the maintenance of the fields. Finally, we are thankful to George Beaumont for his meticulous proofreading and help in improving the English writing of the manuscript.
Funding
Funding for this project has been provided in part through the AgriScience program-cluster on behalf of Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, and was also supported by a NSERC discovery grant to Eric Lucas (RGPIN-2015-04995).
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PR, FD and EL conceived and designed research. PR conducted the experiments, analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. All authors read, provided feedback and approved the manuscript.
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No approval of research ethics committees was required to accomplish the goals of this study because experimental work was conducted with an unregulated invertebrate species.
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Communicated by Kent Daane.
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Royer, P., Dumont, F., Provost, C. et al. May biocontrol agents artificially selected for their aggressiveness improve crop protection?. J Pest Sci (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-024-01780-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-024-01780-3