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Effects of Paecilomyces fumosoroseus and Encarsia formosa on the control of the greenhouse whitefly: preliminary assessment of a compatability study

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Abstract

The effect of separate and combined activity of Paecilomyces fumosoroseus Wize (Brown and Smith) Trinidadian strain T11 and the parasitoid, Encarsia formosa Gahan, was assessed on populations of the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood), infesting Phaseolus vulgaris L. (French bean) and Pelargonium x domesticum (regal geranium) plants in replicate experiments. When infested bean and geranium plants were exposed to E. formosa for 2 days, and 4 days later sprayed with P. fumosoroseus blastospores, whitefly percent mortality was 99.5% and 75.5%, 94.6% and 59.4% for experiments 1 and 2, respectively. Treatment of infested bean plants with either E. formosa or P. fumosoroseus resulted in 87.8% and 78.7%, 73.1% and 97.0% whitefly mortality for experiments 1 and 2, respectively, while similar treatment of infested geranium plants resulted in 9.2% and 52.8%, 34.3% and 64.5% whitefly mortality for experiments 1 and 2, respectively. Our results support the use of E. formosa and P. fumosoroseus in combination in Experiment 1 for the treatment of whitefly infested P. vulgaris plants since a significant difference in mortality is observed than when either E. formosa or P. fumosoroseus is applied alone. However, in experiment 2, the combination treatment on P. vulgaris was no more effective than spraying P. fumosoroseus alone. On P. x domesticum plants, only P. fumosoroseus alone is needed for efficient control of the whitefly compared to the combination treatment. The relative timing of parasitoid oviposition and fungal infection are critical in determining the outcome of the interaction and are plant host dependent.

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Abbreviations

E:

Encarsia formosa parasitoid treatment

E + Pf:

Encarsia formosa plus Paecilomyces fumosoroseus combination treatment

GW:

greenhouse whitefly

LD:

light:dark

Pf:

Paecilomyces fumosoroseus fungal treatment

PDA:

potato dextrose agar

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Acknowledgements

We thank the technical assistance of Jenny Smale, Martin Cullum, the late Richard Benson, and staff at Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK. The Trinidadian fungal strains of P. fumosoroseus were made available by Drs. Penelope Smith and Paul Bridge at CABI BioScience, Egham, UK. The Pelargonium x domesticum (Regal geranium) cultivars were obtained from Dr. M. Lis-Balchin, UK. Trialeurodes vaporariorum populations and Encarsia formosa parasitoids were obtained from Biological Crop Protection Ltd, UK. We also thank Drs. D. Gelman, S. Jaronski, W. Jones, L. Lacey and S. Wraight for comments on an early draft of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Science Department, Shattuck-St. Mary’s School, 1000 Shumway Avenue, Faribault, MN, 55021, USA

    Pasco B. Avery

  2. School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HX, UK

    Pasco B. Avery & Jane Faull

  3. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AB, UK

    Monique S. J. Simmonds

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  1. Pasco B. Avery
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  2. Jane Faull
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  3. Monique S. J. Simmonds
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Correspondence to Pasco B. Avery.

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Avery, P.B., Faull, J. & Simmonds, M.S.J. Effects of Paecilomyces fumosoroseus and Encarsia formosa on the control of the greenhouse whitefly: preliminary assessment of a compatability study. BioControl 53, 303–316 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-007-9073-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-007-9073-5

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