Use of mirids predators for biological control of pests

Abstract

Brazil has been highlighted globally for the success achieved with the use of biological control agents for pest management. Biological control agents have been successfully employed for several economically important crops. However, in the case of entomophagous insects, these results have been obtained almost exclusively by parasitoids. Although predators also present high potential for biological control and exhibit high diversity in Brazil, such strategies have received little attention. Due to such a lack of data, the objective of this project is to evaluate three recently found mirid predators: Campyloneuropsis infumatus (Carvalho), Engytatus varians (Distant) and Macrolophus basicornis (Stal). These predators will be evaluated as biological control agents of tomato pests, aiming to: (i) evaluate the prey capacity of the three mirid species to the spider mite Tetranichus urticae Koch and prey preference between different T. urticae stages, as well as prey preference between T. urticae and the whitefly Bemisia tabaci Gennadius; (ii) to investigate the tomato defense mechanisms induced by herbivory of these two pests (T. urticae and B. tabaci); and (iii) to evaluate the olfactory responses of mirid predators to induced plant volatiles released by tomato plants infested with its prey. The methods employed for these studies include: prey capacity and preference tests; olfactometer assays; behavioral tests; measurement of phytohormones; and collection and analysis of tomato plant volatiles. The project will reveal the tomato adaptive mechanisms in conditions that closely mimic a field setting; beyond the evaluation of potential biological control agents.