Ants can become efficient biocontrol agents in plantation crops as they prey on pest insects and may inhibit plant pathogens by excreting broad-spectrum antibiotics. However, ants also provide a disservice by augmenting attended honeydew producing homopterans. This disservice may be avoided by offering ants artificial sugar as an alternative to honeydew. Here we tested the effect of artificial sugar feeding on aphid abundance in an apple plot with wood ants (Formica polyctena, Förster), and tested the effect of ant presence on apple scab (Venturia inaequalis, Cooke) disease incidence.

中文翻译：

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在生物防治中实施木蚁：抑制苹果黑星病和减少蚜虫照料

蚂蚁可以成为种植园作物的有效生物防治剂，因为它们捕食害虫，并可能通过分泌广谱抗生素来抑制植物病原体。然而，蚂蚁也通过增加生产蜜露的同翅目昆虫来提供伤害。通过向蚂蚁提供人造糖作为蜜露的替代品，可以避免这种损害。在这里，我们在有木蚁 ( Formica polyctena, Förster)的苹果地块中测试了人工糖喂养对蚜虫丰度的影响，并测试了蚂蚁存在对苹果黑星病 ( Venturia inaequalis, Cooke) 病害发生率的影响。