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The Role of Trialeurodes vaporariorum-Infested Tomato Plant Volatiles in the Attraction of Encarsia formosa (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae)

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Abstract

Natural enemies locate their herbivorous host and prey through kairomones emitted by host plants and herbivores. These kairomones could be exploited to attract and retain natural enemies in crop fields for insect pest control. The parasitoid Encarsia formosa preferentially parasitises its whitefly host, Trialeurodes vaporariorum, a major pest of tomato Solanum lycopersicum, thus offering an effective way to improve whitefly control. However, little is known about the chemical interactions that occur in E. formosa-T. vaporariorum-S. lycopersicum tritrophic system. Using behavioural assays and chemical analyses, we investigated the kairomones mediating attraction of the parasitoid to host-infested tomato plants. In Y-tube olfactometer bioassays, unlike volatiles of healthy tomato plants, those of T. vaporariorum-infested tomato plants attracted E. formosa, and this response varied with host infestation density. Coupled gas chromatography/mass spectrometric analyses revealed that host infestation densities induced varying qualitative and quantitative differences in volatile compositions between healthy and T. vaporariorum adult-infested tomato plants. Bioassays using synthetic chemicals revealed the attractiveness of 3-carene, β-ocimene, β-myrcene and α-phellandrene to the parasitoid, and the blend of the four compounds elicited the greatest attraction. Our results suggest that these terpenes could be used as an attractant lure to recruit the parasitoid E. formosa for the control of whiteflies in tomato crop fields.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof Baldwyn Torto for critical review on a previous version of the manuscript and Beatrice Rhino for providing guidance on statistical analyses. We are grateful for the financial support provided by the following organisations and agencies: the French National Research Agency (ANR) through CIRAD under Award No. ANR-16-CE32-0010-01; the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO); the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA); the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC); the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia; and the Kenyan government. The University of Pretoria and the National Research Foundation (A.A.Y. and C.W.W.P) also provided financial support. P.M.A. was supported by a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) In-Region Postgraduate Scholarship (personal grant No. 91672680). The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the donors.

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P.M.A., A.A.Y., C.W.W.P., S.A.M., A.C. & E.D. contributed to the conception and design of the research work and provided intellectual inputs. P.M.A. conducted the experiments, analysed the data and drafted the manuscript. All authors proofread the manuscript and approved the final version for submission.

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Correspondence to Emilie Deletre.

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Ayelo, P.M., Yusuf, A.A., Pirk, C.W.W. et al. The Role of Trialeurodes vaporariorum-Infested Tomato Plant Volatiles in the Attraction of Encarsia formosa (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae). J Chem Ecol 47, 192–203 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-021-01245-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-021-01245-2

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