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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Kearneysville, West Virginia » Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory » Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #313075
Title: Temporal effects on the incidence and severity of brown marmorated stink bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) feeding injury to peaches and apples during the fruiting period in Virginia

Author
item JOSEPH, SHIMAT - Virginia Tech
item NITA, MIZUHO - Virginia Tech
item Leskey, Tracy
item BERGH, JAMES - Virginia Tech

Submitted to: Journal of Economic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/1/2014
Publication Date: 2/8/2015
Citation: Joseph, S.V., Nita, M., Leskey, T.C., Bergh, J.C. 2015. Temporal effects on the incidence and severity of brown marmorated stink bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) feeding injury to peaches and apples during the fruiting period in Virginia. Journal of Economic Entomology. 108(2):592-599.

Interpretive Summary: The invasive brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is a devastating pest of peaches and apples. In order to determine the key periods of risk of injury to BMSB, we exposed developing peaches and apples at monthly intervals to wild populations of BMSB. Fruit were protected from BMSB at all other points in the season using exclusion bags. Fruit always and never exposed to BMSB also were included in the study. The amount of external and internal injury from BMSB was quantified at harvest. Peach was vulnerable to BMSB throughout the growing season, whereas apple was more susceptible to BMSB injury from mid-season until harvest. These results will help guide development of management strategies for BMSB in eastern fruit orchards.

Technical Abstract: Exclusion cages were used to compare the incidence and severity of feeding injury from brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stål), on ‘Redhaven’ peaches, ‘Golden Delicious’ apples and ‘Smoothee Golden’ apples at harvest, following sequential periods of exposure to natural H. halys populations during the 2011 and 2012 growing seasons in Virginia. The fruit used in these experiments were in orchards or on trees that were not managed for H. halys. Treatments were established by sets of 50 fruit that were always caged, never caged, or exposed during one interval of the fruiting period of peaches and apples in the Mid-Atlantic region. The cages effectively prevented feeding injury from H. halys. Peaches and apples that were never caged showed the highest percentages of injured fruit at harvest. Exposure treatment had a significant effect on the percentage of fruit showing external injury at harvest in both years for apples and in 2012 for peaches, and a significant effect on the percentage of apples and peaches showing internal injury at harvest in both years. There was not a consistent effect of each exposure period on peach injury, but apples exposed during the middle to latter portion of the season tended to show most injury. Across all exposure periods, more internal than external injuries were recorded at harvest from peaches, while apples tended to have equal or very similar numbers of both kinds of injury. The implications of these results to H. halys management in eastern apple orchards are discussed.