A functional response study of the eight most common arthropod predators of cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), eggs was conducted in the labo

The intercropping of cover crops has been adopted in several agroecosystems, including tea agroecosystems, which promotes ecological intensification. Prior studies have shown that growing cover crops in tea plantations provided different ecological services, including the biocontrol of pests. Cover crops enrich soil nutrients, reduce soil erosion, suppress weeds and insect pests, and increase the abundance of natural enemies (predators and parasitoids). We have reviewed the potential cover crops that can be incorporated into the tea agroecosystem, particularly emphasizing the ecological services of cover crops in pest control. Cover crops were categorized into cereals (buckwheat, sorghum), legumes (guar, cowpea, tephrosia, hairy indigo, and sunn hemp), aromatic plants (lavender, marigold, basil, and semen cassiae), and others (maize, mountain pepper, white clover, round-leaf cassia, and creeping indigo). Legumes and aromatic plants are the most potent cover crop species that can be intercropped in monoculture tea plantations due to their exceptional benefits. These cover crop species improve crop diversity and help with atmospheric nitrogen fixation, including with the emission of functional plant volatiles, which enhances the diversity and abundance of natural enemies, thereby assisting in the biocontrol of tea insect pests. The vital ecological services rendered by cover crops to monoculture tea plantations, including regarding the prevalent natural enemies and their pivotal role in the biocontrol of insect pests in the tea plantation, have also been reviewed. Climate-resilient crops (sorghum, cowpea) and volatile blends emitting aromatic plants (semen cassiae, marigold, flemingia) are recommended as cover crops that can be intercropped in tea plantations. These recommended cover crop species attract diverse natural enemies and suppress major tea pests (tea green leaf hopper, white flies, tea aphids, and mirid bugs). It is presumed that the incorporation of cover crops within the rows of tea plantations will be a promising strategy for mitigating pest attacks via the conservation biological control, thereby increasing tea yield and conserving agrobiodiversity. Furthermore, a cropping system with intercropped cover crop species would be environmentally benign and offer the opportunity to increase natural enemy abundance, delaying pest colonization and/or preventing pest outbreaks for pest management sustainability.

Thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae( and cotton fleahoppers, Pseudatomoscelis seriatus (Reuter( (Hemiptera: Miridae(, are considered to be significant economic pests of cotton in Texas, USA. A 2-year field study evaluated the influence of planting date, tillage practice, and Bt cotton on seasonal abundance patterns of thrips and cotton fleahoppers and their within-plant distribution patterns in cotton. Thrips were sampled visually while fleahoppers were sampled both visually and with a ‘beat bucket’ at weekly intervals throughout the growing season. Thrips infestations had two distinct peaks, with the first peak at the one to two main stem node leaf stage and the second peak during the flowering stage. Cotton fleahoppers had only one infestation peak at 13 – 15 weeks after planting (after crop cutout(. Average seasonal abundance of each pest was significantly influenced by tillage practice with higher numbers in conventional tillage compared with that in conservation tillage plots. Thrips abundance was similar between the two cultivars, whereas cotton fleahopper abundance was significantly higher in non-Bt cotton compared with that in Bt cotton. Thrips average seasonal abundance was significantly higher in timely planted cotton compared with that in late-planted cotton. Thrips were more prevalent in upper one-third vertical stratum (51%( followed by middle stratum (33%( and the lower stratum (16%(. Cotton fleahopper within-plant distribution was similar to that for thrips, with 65, 24, and 11% of the total abundance found in upper, middle, and lower one-third of the plant, respectively.

Life history characteristics of Lygus elisus Van Duzee were studied at 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35°C in the laboratory. The egg incubation period, ins

A 2-year field study was conducted in the southern High Plains region of Texas to evaluate the effect of tillage system and cotton planting date wind