Abstract
Onion thrips, Thrips tabaci Lindeman is a cosmopolitan and polyphagous insect pest. Onion thrips cause direct and indirect damage to onion by feeding and ovipositing on leaves of several horticultural crops. Besides causing direct damage to its host plants, T. tabaci has been known as an asymptomatic transmitter of plant pathogens such as tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), iris yellow spot virus (IYSV) and tomato yellow ring virus (TYRV). These cause reduction of yield and decrease the market value of the crop. Several synthetic insecticides are used to control the population of onion thrips. However, these insecticides cause pesticide resistance, elimination of non-target species and environmental pollution. To solve the side effects of insecticides, it should be replaced by environmentally friendly pest management alternatives and for this, the use of plant-based pesticides is the best alternative because they do not have residue problems, negative effects on beneficial insects and do not cause air and water quality problems in the environment. Several plants have been investigated which contain bioactive compounds with a variety of biological modes of actions against onion thrips such as repellent, feeding deterrent, anti-ovipositional, fecundity deterrent and metamorphosis inhibition. Key words: Botanical plants, integrated pest management (IPM), onion thrips, secondary metabolites, modes of action.
Highlights
Among the 6000 currently identified thrips species only about one percent is recorded as economically useful pests (Morse and Hoddle, 2006)
To solve all the above drawbacks of insecticides, use of integrated pest management is the most recommended
While insects select the host plants, aromatic plants produce secondary metabolites against this pest. These secondary metabolites appear to be quite specific for a given target and serve the host plants as defence compounds against herbivores by developing different mode of actions such as repellent, antifeedant, anti-ovipositional, toxic, fecundity and egg sterility, and metamorphosis inhibition
Summary
Among the 6000 currently identified thrips species only about one percent is recorded as economically useful pests (Morse and Hoddle, 2006). This figure has implied that majority of the recorded thrips species are a major problem in agriculture. T. tabaci is among the major polyphagous thrips species since it has been recorded on more than 300 plant species (McKinlay, 1992). The genetic variability of onion thrips has confirmed that T. tabaci is not a single pest species but rather a cryptic species complex. This concept is based on significant differences between the lineages regarding reproductive mode, host plant
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