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Effects of marigold on the behavior, survival and nutrient reserves of Aphidius Platensis

BioControl volume 63, pages 543–553 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Marigolds (Tagetes erecta L.) suppress nematodes and are attractive companion plants, but their role in biological control is unknown. We evaluated how exposure to marigold blooms impacts the aphid parasitoid, Aphidius platensis Brethes. Female wasps previously exposed to marigold spent more time walking and parasitizing Myzus percisae Sulzer or Schizaphis graminum Rodani aphids, and subsequently had higher parasitism rates. Meanwhile, completely starved wasps spent more time stationary and marginally more time grooming. Time spent probing, emergence rate, and sex ratio were not affected. Wasp survival was best on honey, followed by marigold, and lowest on non-blooming marigolds. Nutrient reserves of wasps given honey, aphid-infested marigold, or marigold alone were compared to newly-emerged unfed wasps. Their resulting lipid, glycogen and sugar levels were similar, suggesting that these foods helped wasps maintain reserves similar to emergence levels. These results suggest that marigold may improve biological control of aphids by A. platensis.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all people that work on DEN, UFLA especially to the Biological control and Conservation biological control laboratories. We thank the USDA-ARS Horticultural Crops Research Unit for facilitating a visit to perform part of the experiments, and J. Wong for comments, Hanna McIntosh and Katerina Velasco-Graham for reviewing the manuscript. This work was supported by CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) funding, travel by the Universidade Federal de Lavras Sandwich program, and nutrient assays by base funds USDA CRIS 2072-22000-040-00D.

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  1. Departamento de Entomologia, Avenida Doutor Sylvio Menicucci, Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA), 1001, Kennedy, Lavras, MG, 37200-000, Brazil

    Ivana Lemos Souza, Rosangela Cristina Marucci, Luis Claudio Paterno Silveira & Nágila Cristina Paixão de Paulo

  2. USDA ARS Horticultural Crops Research Unit, 3420 NW Orchard Ave, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Jana C. Lee

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  1. Ivana Lemos Souza
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  2. Rosangela Cristina Marucci
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  3. Luis Claudio Paterno Silveira
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  4. Nágila Cristina Paixão de Paulo
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Correspondence to Ivana Lemos Souza.

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Souza, I.L., Marucci, R.C., Silveira, L.C.P. et al. Effects of marigold on the behavior, survival and nutrient reserves of Aphidius Platensis. BioControl 63, 543–553 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-018-9882-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-018-9882-8

Keywords

  • Biological Control
  • Flower
  • Nectar
  • Parasitoid
  • Parasitism