Abstract
Several plant bug species (Miridae) are important pests of crops and vegetables, thus monitoring them is of essential importance for effective pest control. During the current, preliminary study synthetic plant volatile combinations were tested in field conditions in Hungary in alfalfa fields. Beside semiochemical baited traps, sweep-netting was also performed. In the experiments three plant bug species were found in higher numbers: Adelphocoris lineolatus, Lygus rugulipennis and L. pratensis. As a novel, interesting finding L. pratensis was attracted to phenylacetaldehyde baited traps. For all species, both males and females were trapped in all combinations. Sweep-netting and semiochemical baited traps showed different efficacy in case of the three species, as sweep-netting catches were highly biased for A. lineolatus, which indicates the higher efficacy of this method as compared to the tested semiochemical-baited traps. On the other hand, semiochemical baited showed better performance for L. rugulipennis and L. pratensis. For these species none of the tested combinations performed better than phenylacetaldehyde baited traps. The potential implication of results in view of monitoring are discussed.
Highlights
Bugs (Hemiptera order, Heteroptera suborder) are one of the most important insect groups for agriculture considering both pest and beneficial species
In the present study we focused on L. rugulipennis and A. lineolatus
In the first field test we evaluated ternary combinations of plant volatiles in combination with phenylacetaldehyde baits for potential synergistic or antagonistic effects while in another experiment the addition of the ternary blend showing possible activity in the first experiment and of its single components to phenylacetaldehyde was studied
Summary
Bugs (Hemiptera order, Heteroptera suborder) are one of the most important insect groups for agriculture considering both pest and beneficial species. Plant bugs (Miridae) is one of the economically most significant Heteroptera families primarily due to dangerous pests and to beneficial species amongst them According to Easterbrook (2000) Lygus rugulipennis probably is the major cause of fruit malformation in late-season strawberry in the UK where it can mainly be a horticultural pest. Miridae pests have outstanding importance in sunflower, cucumber, sweet corn and green pea production where they can cause damage directly with feeding and transmission of different pathogens. They often invade from nearby grasslands, alfalfa fields, and even mowed alfalfa fields and harvested grains where they can be abundant. The detection and monitoring of pest population dynamics are crucial for increasing efficacy of treatments and decreasing pesticide use (e.g. Witzgall et al, 2010)
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