Improved control of Frankliniella occidentalis on greenhouse pepper through the integration of Orius sauteri and neonicotinoid insecticides

• Published in: Journal of pest science Vol. 94; no. 1; pp. 101 - 109
• Main Authors: Lin, Qing-cai, Chen, Hao, Babendreier, Dirk, Zhang, Jin-ping, Zhang, Feng, Dai, Xiao-yan, Sun, Zuo-wen, Shi, Zhao-peng, Dong, Xiao-lin, Wu, Guang-an, Yu, Yi, Zheng, Li, Zhai, Yi-fan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acute toxicity; Agricultural practices; Agriculture; Biological control; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Chemical control; Chemical pest control; Ecology; Entomology; Environmental risk; Forestry; Frankliniella occidentalis; Horticultural crops; Imidacloprid; Insecticides; Integrated pest management; Life Sciences; Original Paper; Orius sauteri; Pest control; Pesticides; Pests; Plant Pathology; Plant Sciences; Predation; Quotients; Risk assessment; Thiacloprid; Thiamethoxam; Toxicity testing; Neonicotinoid insecticides; Integrated pest management (IPM)
• ISSN: 1612-4758; 1612-4766
• DOI: 10.1007/s10340-020-01198-7

Frankliniella occidentalis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) is a notorious pest of horticultural crops, against which the predator Orius sauteri or neonicotinoid insecticides are commonly used in control programmes. Here, we carried out a series of indoor acute toxicity tests and a risk assessment of eight neonicotinoid insecticides (imidacloprid, nitenpyram, acetamiprid, thiacloprid, thiamethoxam, clothianidin, dinotefuran and flupyradifurone) for O. sauteri and F. occidentalis . For O. sauteri , the LC 50 values of acetamiprid and flupyradifurone were 12.75 and 9.24 mg a.i. L −1 , respectively, and their hazard quotients were ≤ 2. Their toxicities to F. occidentalis were in a similar range. When LC 20 of acetamiprid or flupyradifurone was applied to the pest, predator or both, predation ability was slightly reduced with flupyradifurone (37, 59 and 18, respectively) having less impact compared to acetamiprid (18, 21 and 10, respectively). Furthermore, we performed a greenhouse efficacy trial which involved the selected neonicotinoids acetamiprid and flupyradifurone as well as O. sauteri . Our results showed that integrated pest management, i.e. the application of half the amount of O. sauteri together with low doses (LC 20 ) of acetamiprid or flupyradifurone, significantly reduced the pest with 76% and 75%, respectively, during the trial time, similar to the biocontrol treatment and significantly better than for chemical control alone. The cost of the integrated pest control strategy was similar to chemical control alone and lower than for biocontrol, indicating its potential as an economically feasible thrips control strategy, with reduced environmental risks compared to using chemicals only.