Abstract
Lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) prey on insect pests in cotton. The objective of this 2 yr on-farm study was to document the impact of a grain sorghum trap crop on the density of Coccinellidae on nearby cotton.Scymnusspp.,Coccinella septempunctata(L.),Hippodamia convergensGuérin-Méneville,Harmonia axyridis(Pallas),Coleomegilla maculata(De Geer),Cycloneda munda(Say), andOlla v-nigrum(Mulsant) were found in sorghum over both years. Lady beetle compositions in sorghum and cotton and in yellow pyramidal traps were similar. For both years, density of lady beetles generally was higher on cotton with sorghum than on control cotton. Our results indicate that sorghum was a source of lady beetles in cotton, and thus incorporation of a sorghum habitat in farmscapes with cotton has great potential to enhance biocontrol of insect pests in cotton.
Highlights
Lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) have a significant impact on aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) [1,2,3,4], including the cotton aphid (Aphis gossypii Glover) attacking cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) [5] and the corn leaf aphid (Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch) and greenbug (Schizaphis graminum (Rondani) attacking grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench spp. bicolor) [6,7,8]
Scymnus spp., C. septempunctata, H. convergens, H. axyridis, C. maculata, C. munda, and O. v-nigrum were found in crops and yellow pyramidal traps over both years in Georgia
The corn leaf aphid was observed feeding on sorghum mainly during the vegetative stage, and the greenbug was observed mainly feeding in sorghum grain heads
Summary
Lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) have a significant impact on aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) [1,2,3,4], including the cotton aphid (Aphis gossypii Glover) attacking cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) [5] and the corn leaf aphid (Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch) and greenbug (Schizaphis graminum (Rondani) attacking grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench spp. bicolor) [6,7,8]. Grain sorghum, when planted adjacent to cotton, can perform as a trap crop for stink bugs and possibly as a source of natural enemies moving into cotton. Coccinellidae were sampled on plants and from yellow pyramid traps that predominantly served in the larger pest management scheme to kill stink bugs in sorghum.
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