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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Crop Protection and Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #323556

Title: Multifunctional strategies for management of stink bugs based on the ecology and biology of these pests and their natural enemies

Author
item Tillman, Patricia - Glynn

Submitted to: International Congress of Entomology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/5/2015
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Phytophagous stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) are economically important pests in orchard, row, vegetable, and grain crops worldwide. Stink bugs move between closely associated hosts throughout the growing season in response to the deteriorating suitability of their current hosts, and an edge effect in dispersal of stink bugs occurs at host-to-host interfaces as they colonize a host. Even though stink bugs are polyphagous, they can exhibit a preference for a host, and so a preferred host can be used to trap them. Male-produced pheromones are attractive to stink bugs, and when stink bug traps are baited with pheromones attractive to these stink bug species, they effectively capture these bugs in the field. A diversity of parasitoid species parasitize stink bugs, and nectar is an important food source for them. Thus, a physical barrier, soybean trap crop, nectar-producing plant, and/or pheromone-baited traps were strategically placed at peanut-to-cotton interfaces to determine their ability to manage these pests in cotton. A physical barrier reduced stink bug density and boll injury in cotton. Soybean was an effective trap crop for stink bug species in cotton regardless if used alone or in combination with stink bug traps. Stink bug density in cotton, though, was numerically lower for soybean with traps than without them, and stink bug traps within soybean killed stink bugs. Incorporation of a nectar-producing plant either alone or in combination with soybean increased efficacy of stink bug parasitoids in cotton. In conclusion, multifunctional strategies can be used to manage these pests.