To assess biological control as a management tool for the cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover (Homoptera: Aphididae), the efficacy of Aphidius colemani Viereck (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) for suppression of A. gossypii in greenhouse-grown chrysanthemums, Dendranthema grandiflora (Tzvelev), was compared with a pesticide standard, imidacloprid (Marathon 1% G) and an untreated check. No significant differences were found between aphid populations in the two treatments. A. colemani and imidacloprid kept aphid numbers very low, with the correspondent aphid populations exhibiting very low intrinsic rates of increase (rm = −0.0369 and rm = 0.0151, respectively), in contrast to the exponential growth of aphid populations (rm = 0.1085) observed on the untreated plants. Parasitism levels in A. colemani plots ranged from 48.93 to 83.38%. Esthetic damage parameters, including exuviae, honeydew, and sooty mold on leaves, were significantly different between treatments and untreated control, and damage levels were minimal with the insecticide treatment and natural enemy releases. The cost of A. colemani releases was 4.7 times greater than the cost of the imidacloprid treatment.
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1 August 2006
Efficacy Assessment of Aphidius colemani (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) for Suppression of Aphis gossypii (Homoptera: Aphididae) in Greenhouse-Grown Chrysanthemum
Gissella M. Vásquez,
David B. Orr,
James R. Baker
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Journal of Economic Entomology
Vol. 99 • No. 4
August 2006
Vol. 99 • No. 4
August 2006
Aphidius colemani
Aphis gossypii
augmentation biological control
Dendranthema grandiflora
inoculative releases