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. 2021 Apr 29;12(5):397.
doi: 10.3390/insects12050397.

Establishment of a Faba Bean Banker Plant System with Predator Orius strigicollis for the Control of Thrips Dendrothrips minowai on Tea Plants under Laboratory Conditions

Chang-Rong Zhang  1 , Mei Liu  1   2 , Fei-Xue Ban  1 , Xiao-Li Shang  3 , Shao-Lan Liu  1 , Ting-Ting Mao  1 , Xing-Yuan Zhang  1 , Jun-Rui Zhi  2
Affiliations

Establishment of a Faba Bean Banker Plant System with Predator Orius strigicollis for the Control of Thrips Dendrothrips minowai on Tea Plants under Laboratory Conditions

Chang-Rong Zhang et al. Insects. .

Abstract

The stick tea thrip Dendrothrips minowai (Priesner) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) is a destructive pest in tea plantations in south and southwest China. To control this pest, a non-crop banker plant system was developed using a polyphagous predator Orius strigicollis (Poppius) (Heteroptera: Anthocoridae) with the black bean aphid Aphis fabae (Scopoli) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) as an alternative prey and the faba bean Vicia faba as the banker plant to support the predator in targeting the pest. The fitness of A. fabae on tea plants and faba bean was evaluated to determine its host specificity. Moreover, the control efficacy of the banker plant system on D. minowai on tea plants was tested in the laboratory and compared with that of direct release of O. strigicollis. The experiments showed that faba bean was an excellent non-crop host for A. fabae because, while the aphid population increased quickly on faba bean, it could only survive for up to 9 days on tea plants. Compared with direct release of O. strigicollis, lower densities of pest were observed when introducing the banker plant system. Our results indicate that this banker plant system has the potential to be implemented in the field to improve the control of the pest thrips.

Keywords: Aphis fabae; Camellia sinensis; alternative prey; biological control; control efficacy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Numbers of Aphis fabae on tea or faba been plants on different days after the initial release of aphid adults. Five, ten, and fifteen A. fabae adults were released into each of the three insect cages containing one pot of tea seedlings. Five A. fabae adults were reared on three Vicia faba seedlings as a control. Numbers of A. fabae were counted daily until all A. fabae on tea seedlings died. Data are presented as mean ± SEM.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of surviving Aphis fabae in different treatments after the release of Orius strigicollis adults. Five Orius adults were introduced when the aphids had been feeding and reproducing on faba bean seedlings for 24, 48, and 72 h, and the treatment of aphids without release of Orius was used as control. Numbers of A. fabae were counted daily for 10 days.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Number of Dendrothrips minowai on tea seedlings in the four treatments: (1) O. strigicollis–V. faba–A. fabae banker plant system, (2) direct release of O. strigicollis, (3) banker plant system without O. strigicollis, and (4) thrips only. Numbers of D. minowai were counted weekly for 4 weeks after releasing. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. Different letters indicate significant differences among the four treatments separately in each of the dates (p < 0.05) calculated using Kruskal–Wallis tests followed by Dunn–Bonferroni tests.
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