Preference of Orius insidiosus and Orius tristicolor (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) for Host Plants in Olfactometry and Free-Choice Experiments

The western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), is a key pest of sweet pepper cultivation, where it causes feeding damage, excretes phytotoxic substances, and transmits important viruses. Control with chemical insecticides often is ineffective because endophytic oviposition and the cryptic habits of the pest provide protection. In Uruguay, the biological control program of this pest in sweet pepper crops is at risk due to the low settlement rate and high dispersal of releases of predator Orius insidiosus (Say) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae). Previous studies have ruled out an antibiosis effect as the cause of dispersal; therefore, we hypothesized antixenosis (non-preference) for the sweet pepper plants as the cause of poor biological control by O. insidiosus. The effect of olfactory stimuli from different structures of strawberry, corn, and sweet pepper plants (lamuyo and blocky type) on the behavior of O. insidiosus was evaluated in olfactometry and free-choice cage experiments. Since Orius tristicolor (White) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) occurs naturally in the area, it was included also in the study with the aim of assessing whether there are differences in behavior between the species. Orius tristicolor may act as a complementary biocontrol agent or competitor on sweet pepper. Y-tube experiments showed no preference for plant volatiles in any combination, and response to volatile stimuli generally was poor. However, in the free-choice cage experiment, females of both species of Orius preferred the flowering strawberry plants over the flowering sweet pepper plants, which could explain the low establishment of O. insidiosus when released on pepper with neighboring strawberry fields. Given that horticultural greenhouses in Uruguay and in many other countries are open, this information can be very useful in designing the spatial and temporal management of different crops on a production field, which enhances the effectiveness of these predatory species.