Pest and beneficial insect species detected on broad bean in the Çukurova region of Turkey

Abstract

Broad bean plants have an important status in human nutrition because they are rich in protein. In this study, harmful and beneficial insect fauna on pods of broad bean were studied in a limited area. The study was carried out in the commercial broad bean production areas in Çukurova region of Turkey between the years 2014-2016. In each survey, 4-8 fields were visited to determine the numbers of pest and predatory insect species. The size of commercial fields sampled varied from 0.5 to 1.0 ha. Sampling was carried out when plants were in the flowering-pod formation stage. Insect species were sampled by beating the plants vigorously into a white plastic container. A total of 14 harmful insects from 4 genera were identified. Western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) dominated the pest insect fauna (a total of 444 individuals) accounting 40.07% of the total number of adults. Relatively high numbers of thrips and aphids were determined. A total of 9 predatory insect species from 2 genera were recorded. The most common predatory bug was Orius niger (Wollf) accounting for 76.83% of total adults collected. O. niger was often detected with thrips species on flowers of plants. No damage due to insect pest species detected was observed throughout the sampling periods. This study suggests that growing faba bean in the winter-spring period, especially in agricultural areas having poor plant diversity in the Mediterranean region, could be useful for conservation and augmentation of beneficial insects.