Use of plants by Myzus persicae in agroecosystems: Potential applications in conservation biological control

ZUMOFFEN, LETICIA; GHIGLIONE CARLA; SIGNORINI, MARCELO; SALVO ADRIANA

JOURNAL OF APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2021

0931-2048

Myzus persicae (Sulzer) is a highly polyphagous aphid species that attacks several economically important crop plants. Here, trophic webs involving M. persicae, its hostplants and its parasitoids were described and quantified in wheat, oat and alfalfaagroecosystems from central Argentina, with special emphasis on the sub-habitatswhere interactions occur: crops and adjacent field margins. Three fields cultivatedwith each crop species and their margins were sampled during three years; aphidabundance and mummification percentage were compared among crop plants andthe diverse natural vegetation in the borders. Interactions were described using aquantitative food web approach, and abundance and mummification percentage edata were analysed using a generalized linear model. Four plant species present inthe borders (Capsella bursa-pastori, Rapistrum sp., Melilotus sp. and Trifolium repens)hosted M. persicae and its parasitoids. The alfalfa agroecosystem produced a significantly higher number of aphids than oat and wheat; however, in all cases, crops andborders sustained similar aphid abundance. A total of six Aphidiinae species attackedM. persicae, with no significant differences in the richness of parasitoid species between the borders and the crops, but with significant differences in parasitoid abundance, being higher in the crops. Mummification percentage were higher in cropsthan in the borders, with Lysiphlebus testaceipes, Aphidius colemani and A. ervi beingthe most abundant species. Almost 70% of M. persicae individuals were collectedfrom fields borders, which highlights the importance of including these sites in studies of trophic interactions in crop fields.