Host plant range of Aphidophagous hoverflies in relation to their prey aphids in Badin, Sindh, Pakistan.

Kamal Khan Abro

doi:10.19045/bspab.2019.80065

Abstract

Aphidophagous hoverflies are one of the significant groups of family syrphidae for their larvae as well as adults, larvae feed on many insect pests i.e. aphids, jassids, thrips, which mainly infest several crops such as brassica, spinach, rice, wheat etc., whereas their adults are very important pollinators for these crops. This study was carried out to identify the hoverfly species which can be used as pest control of various agricultural crops grown in Badin which is a monsoon climatic region and main agricultural area of Sindh coastal line where a variety of flowering crops, fruits and vegetables are cultivated; and these include mango, banana, guava, lemon, jojoba, sugarcane, reddish, brassica, wheat, rice, okra, cabbage, chilli, cucumber, sunflower, tomato, onion etc. This study was conducted in the various farming fields of district Badin during the cropping season from January-April 2017. As a result a total of 253 specimens of 2 species, Sphaerophoria scripta and Episyrphus balteatus belonging to genus Sphaerophoria and Episyrphus were trapped by the help of insect hand net and malaise trap. Out of these 253 specimens, 34 were male and 219 were female. Pearson correlation analysis showed that there was strong positive and significant correlation of hoverflies population with the number of host plants as well as number of aphid colonies per month the values being r =.820 (p= 0.012) and r = .875 (p= 0.01) respectively. Keywords: Aphidophagous hoverflies; Aphids; Badin; Host plants; Pakistan; Prey; Sindh http://dx.doi.org/10.19045/bspab.2019.80065

Highlights

Aphidophagous hoverflies are one of the significant groups of family syrphidae for their larvae as well as adults, larvae feed on many insect pests i.e. aphids, jassids, thrips, which mainly infest several crops such as brassica, spinach, rice, wheat etc., whereas their adults are very important pollinators for these crops
Episyrphus balteatus was recorded from brassica, cabbage, wheat, and tomato and green chili (Figure 2) while Sphaerophoria scripta was trapped from brassica, onion, okra, cauliflower, spinach and grasses (Figure 3)
Various aphid colonies of different species were observed on these crops especially on Brassica, wheat, sunflower and lucerne, the host wise prevalence of Episurphus balteatus hoverflies and revealed that the maximum abundance of this species was found on Brassica followed by Sunflower while minimum on Cabbage (Figure 4).Whereas the most preferred host plant for Sphaerophoria scripta was Brassica followed by Lucerne while onion was the least preferred host plant (Figure 5)

Summary

Introduction

Aphidophagous hoverflies are one of the significant groups of family syrphidae for their larvae as well as adults, larvae feed on many insect pests i.e. aphids, jassids, thrips, which mainly infest several crops such as brassica, spinach, rice, wheat etc., whereas their adults are very important pollinators for these crops. Schizophis graminum aphids are the major pest having many host plant range of at least 60 plant species like wheat, barely, sorghum and corn [26] They suck cell sap and inject toxic saliva into the plant body which results in bending of leaves presence of yellowed spots on greenery dimpling of fruit and appearance of buds [27]. We recorded all the available plant species which were highly attacked by the aphids which are general feeders as well as monophagous in nature These crop pests are sap lovers and attack different crops like, brassica, chilli, onion, wheat, and rice as well on garden plants such as shrubs & annual plants that were flowering during January to April. Data analysis The collected data were analysis using Pearson’s correlation, following to observe the relationship between predators and theirs prays, using SPSS version

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Conclusion