BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF APHIDS WITH CHRYSOPERLA CARNEA ON STRAWBERRY

Aphids cause considerable damage in strawberry crops and massive applications of insecticides have come to a limit with the appearance of plant pathogens resistance.
Aphid species such as Rhodobium porosum and Aphis gossypii are resistant to all chemical molecules approved on strawberry crops in France.
The large variety of aphid species encountered on the strawberry crop, requires the use of non specific beneficial organisms such as lacewings.
The lacewing Chrysoperla carnea is widely known as a natural beneficial insect against aphids.
However, its effective use as a predator introduced in strawberry crops has still to be confirmed.
The experiment carried out in the year 2007 intended to assess its efficiency as a predator on strawberry plants.
In this experiment, various treatments were compared on soil- and soilless-grown everbearing strawberry crops: 1 lacewing per plant, 5 lacewings per plant, and, in the soil-grown crop only, a control treatment without lacewing.
The treatments were repeated every two weeks starting from planting date.
The results show that aphid infestations were successfully limited by the use of lacewings.
The absence of chemical treatment during the release of lacewings was quite encouraging.
Control of pest populations differed according to the amount of lacewings introduced, with 5 lacewings per plant, the predatory action could be characterised as both preventive and curative.
With 1 lacewing per plant, the increase in aphid populations was limited but it is suggested that several treatments might be necessary to stop this increase.
These experiments confirm that lacewings can be used as predators of aphid populations in strawberry crops.
Further studies are now required to develop control strategies using lacewings introduction that may be adopted by strawberry growers.

VI International Strawberry Symposium

M. Turquet, J.J. Pommier, M. Piron, E. Lascaux, G. Lorin

Fragaria ananassa, green lacewing, aphid

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.842.137