Do Refuge Plants Favour Natural Pest Control in Maize Crops?

• Published in: Insects (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 8; no. 3; p. 71
• Main Authors: Quispe, Reinaldo, Mazón, Marina, Rodríguez-Berrío, Alexander
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 18.07.2017; MDPI
• Subjects: Abundance; Agricultural practices; Cereal crops; Corn; Crops; Functional groups; Herbivores; Insects; Integrated pest management; maize crop; Natural enemies; Parasitoids; Pest control; Pests; Plant species; Predators; refuge plant; Rhopalosiphum maidis; Species; Spodoptera frugiperda; Zea mays; Peru; maize crop; predators; functional groups; parasitoids; refuge plant
• ISSN: 2075-4450; 2075-4450
• DOI: 10.3390/insects8030071

The use of non-crop plants to provide the resources that herbivorous crop pests' natural enemies need is being increasingly incorporated into integrated pest management programs. We evaluated insect functional groups found on three refuges consisting of five different plant species each, planted next to a maize crop in Lima, Peru, to investigate which refuge favoured natural control of herbivores considered as pests of maize in Peru, and which refuge plant traits were more attractive to those desirable enemies. Insects occurring in all the plants, including the maize crop itself, were sampled weekly during the crop growing cycle, from February to June 2011. All individuals collected were identified and classified into three functional groups: herbivores, parasitoids, and predators. Refuges were compared based on their effectiveness in enhancing the populations of predator and parasitoid insects of the crop enemies. Refuges A and B were the most effective, showing the highest richness and abundance of both predators and parasitoids, including several insect species that are reported to attack the main insect pests of maize ( and ), as well as other species that serve as alternative hosts of these natural enemies.