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Plant, pest and predator interplay: tomato trichomes effects on Tetranychus urticae (Koch) and the predatory mite Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) recki Wainstein

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Abstract

Trichomes are well-known efficient plant defense mechanisms to limit arthropod herbivory, especially in Solanaceae. The present study aims to evaluate the impact of trichome types on the development, survival and dispersal of Tetranychus urticae, and the phytoseiid predatory mite Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) recki. Six Solanum lycopersicum cultivars and two wild Solanum species, S. cheesmaniae and S. peruvianum, presenting contrasting densities and types of trichomes, were considered. Cultivars and species were characterized by counting each trichome type on leaves, petioles and stems. Mites stuck on petiole and stem and alive mites on the leaflet used for mite release and in the whole plant were counted three weeks after T. urticae plant infestation. Tetranychus urticae settlement and dispersal were differently affected by trichomes. Trichome types V and VI did not affect settlement and dispersal, whereas trichome types I and IV on the petiole had the highest impacton mites. Trichomes on leaves slightly affected mite establishment, there appears to be a repellent effect of trichome types I and IV. The low densities of both T. urticae and its predator detected for the cv. Lancaster could not be clearly associated to the trichome types here considered. The predator did not seem to be affected by plant characteristics, but rather by T. urticae numbers on the plant. The trichome traits unfavorable to T. urticae, did not affect the predator which showed high efficiency to control this pest on all the plant genotypes considered, but at a favorable predator:prey ratio (1:1). Altogether, these results are encouraging for the use of T. (A.) recki as a biological control agent of T. urticae regardless of the trichome structure of the tomato cultivars, but other conditions should be tested to conclude on practical implementations.

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Acknowledgements

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 773902 — SuperPests. We thanks Hélène Burck, Unit Genetics and Breeding of Fruits and Vegetables (GAFL), INRAE Avignon, France; Eric Pedebas, Le Tomatologue, Maurin-Lattes, France; and Marta Montserrat, Institute for Mediterranean and Subtropical Horticulture “La Mayora”, Spain, for providing tomato accessions seeds for experiments. Finally, we thank the two reviewers for their valuable comments, which allowed us to improve the quality of the manuscript.

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  1. Navajas Maria and Tixier Marie-Stéphane have contributed equally to this work.

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  1. CBGP, INRAE, CIRAD, IRD, Institut Agro Montpellier, Univ. Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Tabary Lou, Navia Denise, Auger Philippe, Migeon Alain & Navajas Maria

  2. UMR CBGP, Institut Agro Montpellier, INRAE, CIRAD, IRD, Univ. Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Tixier Marie-Stéphane

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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by LT and MST. The first draft of the manuscript was written by LT and MSTand all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Lou, T., Denise, N., Philippe, A. et al. Plant, pest and predator interplay: tomato trichomes effects on Tetranychus urticae (Koch) and the predatory mite Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) recki Wainstein. Exp Appl Acarol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-024-00917-4

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