Comparison of the main pest insects and their natural enemies in apple orchards with different pest control methods
Author of the article:XIAO Yun-Li；GUO Wei；TANG Wen-Ying；CAI Zhi-Ping；YU Kai；LIU Tong-Xian
Author's Workplace：The Plant Protection Station in Shandong Province, Jinan 250100, China; Qiao-sheng Biotechnology Co., Ltd , Qingdao 266000, China; College of Agronomy, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China; The Plant Protection Station of Yantai in Shandong Province, Yantai 264001, China; College of Plant Medical and Health, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, China
Key Words：apple tree; functional plant; biological control; arthropod community; biodiversity
Abstract：
[Objectives] Insect diversity is an important component of
biodiversity and plays a necessary role in bio-control and pollination. [Methods] During 2018-2019, we investigated the
abundance of the main pest insects and their natural enemies in apple orchards
with three different pest control methods; biological control (BC), functional
plants (FP) to provide habitat for natural predators and chemical control (CC). [Results] We found that the abundance of the main pest
insects, such as Aphis citricola, Panonychus ulmi and Lithocolletis
ringoniella, in BC and FP apple orchards was much higher than in CC
orchards. However, the abundance of natural predators of these pests, such as Harmonia axyridis, Chrysoperla sinicaand members of the Syrphidae,
was also higher in FP and BC orchards than in CC orchards. [Conclusion] FP and BC can reduce the population density of
pest insects in apple orchards. Although CC can keep pest insects at low
numbers, it also suppresses their natural predators and CC orchards had greater
fluctuations in pest abundance than BC and FP orchards.