Abstract
Simple SummaryWestern flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis, is an invasive key pest that damages vegetables and ornamentals worldwide. The activation of induced resistance by chemicals may provide a simple and feasible way of achieving improvement of resistance to stress in crop plants, which is an important technology for the development of sustainable agriculture. Calcium (Ca) is an essential element for plants; numerous studies have shown that Ca can confer crop plants with resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. For the first time, we report the negative effects of exogenous Ca on kidney bean plants in relation to the performance of F. occidentalis, including a reduced preference of thrips. Therefore, Ca could potentially be used to control F. occidentalis.Exogenous calcium (Ca) has been used to induce host plant resistance in response to abiotic and biotic stresses, including from thrips attack. The aim of this study was to determine whether exogenously applied Ca affects the performance of Frankliniella occidentalis. We assessed the development time, total longevity, reproduction, and population parameters of F. occidentalis, and its preference choice on Ca-treated or untreated control kidney bean plants under laboratory conditions. The results showed that F. occidentalis fed on Ca-treated leaves had a longer developmental time but lower longevity (female and male) and fecundity than F. occidentalis fed on control leaves. Population parameters, including the intrinsic rate of increase (r), finite rate of increase (λ), and net reproductive rate (R0), were all found higher in control leaves than in Ca-treated leaves, and the mean generation time (T) was shorter. In preference choices, the number of thrips on control plants was higher than the number of thrips on Ca-treated kidney bean plants. Overall, our results indicated that exogenous Ca pretreatment on kidney bean plants affected the life history and preference choice of F. occidentalis, suggesting Ca might be used as a promising elicitor of inducible plant defense against thrips.
Highlights
Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) is a significant agricultural invasive pest worldwide due to its broad host range and rapid reproduction, and it poses a great threat to crops [1,2]
The mean fecundity of females exposed to control leaves was 80.29 eggs, which was significantly higher than the mean fecundity of females exposed to Ca-treated leaves (55.34 eggs), and fewer oviposition days were observed when the thrips fed on Ca-treated leaves than on control leaves (Table 1)
Compared to the use of pesticides, sustainable management of thrips may involve the use of host plant defenses [9]
Summary
Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) is a significant agricultural invasive pest worldwide due to its broad host range and rapid reproduction, and it poses a great threat to crops [1,2]. Chemical insecticides have predominantly been used to control F. occidentalis as the primary control measure [6,7]. F. occidentalis is difficult to control due to its rapid development of resistance to many insecticides and its hidden nature of feeding [2,6]. Relying on plant defenses against F. occidentalis has been discussed as a promising alternative for thrips control because plant defenses provide a sustainable control method for the future [8,9]
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