Biology, predatory potential and functional response of Mallada desjardinsi (Navas) on melon aphid, Aphis gossypii glove
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Biology, predatory potential and functional response of Mallada desjardinsi (Navas) on melon aphid, Aphis gossypii glover Deeksha Kumari 1 & Subhash Chander Verma 1 & Prem Lal Sharma 1 & Mahesh Balaso Gaikwad 1 Received: 2 May 2019 / Accepted: 7 August 2020 # African Association of Insect Scientists 2020
Abstract This study evaluated the developmental biology, predatory potential, and functional response of Mallada desjardinsi (Neuroptera:Chrysopidae) larval instars fed on melon aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover. The experiment was carried out under laboratory conditions at 25 ± 1 °C, with 70 ± 5% R.H and 12:12 L:D photoperiod. The freshly emerged larvae were reared individually in the Petri plates containing moist blotting paper and cucumber leaves (6 × 6 cm) infested with assorted population of second and third instars of A. gossypii. The results showed that incubation, total larval, pre pupal and pupal periods of M. desjardinsi were 2.90, 12.50, 1.40 and 9.10 days, respectively. Pre oviposition, oviposition and post oviposition period of M. desjardinsi was 11.80, 32.40 and 2.76 days, respectively and each female laid an average of 128.58 eggs. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd instars of M. desjardinsi on an average consumed 30.98, 107.80 and 265.40 aphids, whereas total consumption during life cycle was 298.50 aphids/predator. All the three larval stages of the predator exhibited Type II functional response to the aphid. Based on Rogers’s random predator equation, the predator’s attack rate was the lowest (0.092) in the first instar, while the 3rd instar recorded the highest rate (0.118). Functional response parameters indicate that attack rate increased and handling time decreased with the advancement of the predator stage. From biological control point of view, our data suggest the successful use of M. desjardinsi third instar larvae as voracious feeders in IPM programmes against melon aphid. Keywords Biocontrol attributes . Mallada desjardinsi . Predation rate . Aphis gossypii
Introduction The cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover (Homoptera: Aphididae), also known as melon aphid, is a cosmopolitan, polyphagous pest infesting 569 host plants belonging to 80 families (Singh et al. 2014; Tazerouni et al. 2016). Both nymphs and adults suck the cell sap resulting in curling of leaves or appearance of discoloured spots on the foliage. Under sever infestation the plants wilt, become yellowish to brownish and ultimately die which leads to the reduction of the yield and quality of fruits. The aphid excretes honeydew which encourages sooty mould to disrupt the normal photosynthetic activity of the plant. In addition, aphids are responsible to transmit 76 plant viruses (Escriu et al. 2000; Pinto
* Mahesh Balaso Gaikwad [email protected] 1
Department of Entomology, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh 173230, India
et al. 2008; Srinivasulu et al. 2010). The indiscriminate use of synthetic pesticides for the control of this pest leads to the development of insec
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