Effects of Induced Starvation onBagrada hilaris(Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) Survival

Abstract

Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) is a serious pest of cruciferous crops, including leafy crucifers grown in enclosed greenhouses in the Central Coast of California. These enclosed greenhouses face season-long risk of feeding injury to plantings of cruciferous crops. Understanding the survival ability of B. hilaris would help develop crop-free periods as a cultural tactic for B. hilaris control. A series of trials was conducted with 2nd–3rd and 4th–5th instar nymphs and male and female adults to determine how well they survive when they had full, partial, or no access to food and water sources. The treatments for the experiment were: (a) soil plus food (a piece of broccoli crown); (b) soil plus water; (c) soil-only; and (d) empty (no soil, water, and food). Bagrada hilaris were individually released into 20-ml ventilated scintillation vials that were deployed outside by burying them in the ground with only the ventilated top exposed for multiple days. Results show that B. hilaris survived between 3 and 6 d after deployment without access to food and water. In all experiments, survival of B. hilaris in the food or water treatments was significantly greater than in the soil-only and empty treatments on final day of the trial. Bagrada hilaris in the soil-only treatment had significantly lower number of live B. hilaris than in the empty treatment on the days before the final day of the experiment. The survival of B. hilaris that had access to food was not significantly different from those that had access to water.