The beauties and the bugs: A scenario for designing flower strips adapted to aphid management in melon crops

Publication date: September 2019Source: Biological Control, Volume 136Author(s): Alexandra Schoeny, Antoine Lauvernay, Jérôme Lambion, Christophe Mazzia, Yvan CapowiezAbstractFlower strips appear to be a promising lever for promoting pest control but a careful selection of the plant species used is needed prior to implementation to avoid possible negative side effects. In the case of open field melon crops, the main pitfall would be to generate aphid and aphid-borne virus reservoirs near the crops. Combining biotests under controlled conditions and data from the literature, we assessed 18 candidate plant species, and ruled-out those posing a potential risk of hosting Aphis gossypii (melon pest and virus vector), Myzus persicae (virus vector) and/or viruses (Cucurbit aphid-borne yellows virus (CABYV), Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), Watermelon mosaic virus (WMV) and Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV)). Five plant species made it through the selection process: cornflower, grass pea, sainfoin, salad burnet and sweet marjoram. Flower strips sown with a mix of these five plant species were evaluated in a five-year field experiment. They displayed a flowering continuum likely to provide a food resource to natural enemies throughout the growing season. Their potential to host natural enemies was compared to those of grass strips and bare soil by monitoring generalist and specialist predators within the different field margins and melon crop. Flower margins supported significantly mo...

Source: Biological Control - June 18, 2019 Category: Biology Source Type: research