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Early establishment of the phytoseiid mite Amblyseius swirskii (Acari: Phytoseiidae) on pepper seedlings in a Predator-in-First approach

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Abstract

The establishment of biocontrol agents is critical for success of biological control strategies. Predator-in-First (PIF) is a prophylactic control strategy that aims to establish predators before the appearance of pests in an agro-ecosystem. PIF uses the ability of generalist phytoseiid mites to survive, develop and reproduce on pollen and thus establish in the absence of prey. The early establishment of populations of natural enemies helps control the pests at their incipient stage of infestation. The current study was undertaken to screen pepper cultivars for their ability to support populations of the predatory mite Amblyseius swirskii Athias–Henriot in the absence of prey. Twenty-nine pepper cultivars (11 hot and 18 sweet) were tested through a series of experiments, and four cultivars (7141, 992-7141, FPP7039 and FPP9048) were found to sustain A. swirskii populations throughout the study period. The initial application of pollen was important for establishment and maintenance of the predatory mites within the greenhouse system. Among the three screening experiments, high densities of mites were obtained in the experiment where 20 mites were released per plant, even reaching densities of >100 mites/plant. Recovery of predatory mites was significantly higher (ca. 2–3 fold) on the four pepper cultivars when predatory mites were mass released using an indirect method (banker plants) than when they were released directly on the seedlings, suggesting an advantage of passive continuous release. Future work will evaluate the selected pepper cultivars with the PIF strategy under greenhouse and field production conditions.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Katherine Houben, John Prokop, Irma Herrera, Fabieli Irizarry, and Younes Belmourd for their technical assistance. We would also like to thank Dr. James Colee for assisting in the statistical analysis and the internal reviewers Drs. Joseph Patt, J. Howard Frank and Aaron Dickey for their constructive criticism and helpful suggestions. Funding for this study was supported by Grants from the EPA, USDA/FDACS—Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, the USDA-ARS Floriculture and Nursery Research Initiative, and IFAS/UF Line Item grants program.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Entomology and Nematology, Mid-Florida Research and Education Center, University of Florida, 2725, South Binion Road, Apopka, FL, 32703, USA

      Vivek Kumar, Yingfang Xiao & Lance S. Osborne

    2. US Horticultural Research Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Fort Pierce, FL, 34945, USA

      Cindy L. McKenzie

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    1. Vivek Kumar
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    Correspondence to Vivek Kumar.

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    Vivek Kumar and Yingfang Xiao have contributed equally to this work.

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    Kumar, V., Xiao, Y., McKenzie, C.L. et al. Early establishment of the phytoseiid mite Amblyseius swirskii (Acari: Phytoseiidae) on pepper seedlings in a Predator-in-First approach. Exp Appl Acarol 65, 465–481 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-015-9895-2

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