Evaluation of Brassicaceae Seedlings as Trap Plants for Bagrada Hilaris Burmeister in Caper Bush Cultivations

Mokhtar Abdulsattar Arif, Salvatore Guarino, Ezio Peri and Stefano Colazza
Additional contact information
Mokhtar Abdulsattar Arif: Department of Agriculture, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Building 5, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Salvatore Guarino: Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources (IBBR), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Corso Calatafimi 414, 90129 Palermo, Italy
Ezio Peri: Department of Agriculture, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Building 5, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Stefano Colazza: Department of Agriculture, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Building 5, 90128 Palermo, Italy

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 16, 1-10

Abstract: The caper bush, Capparis spinosa (Brassicales: Capparaceae), is intensively grown on Pantelleria Island (Trapani, Sicily, Sicilian channel) where it has been granted protected geographical indication (PGI) by the EU. On this island, Bagrada hilaris , a stink bug native of Asia and Africa, is the major pest of caper crops. Recent studies have shown the attraction of B. hilaris to volatiles of brassicaceous plants at the seedling stage. The objective of this study was to evaluate three cotyledon-stage seedlings of host plants, Brassica oleracea var. botrytis (cauliflower), Eruca sativa (rocket) and Brassica carinata (Abyssinian cabbage), as potential trap plants for B. hilaris . The relative preferences of these species were first evaluated in laboratory and field experiments, carried out during summer when the level of B. hilaris infestation was the highest. Behavioral bioassays in the laboratory conditions showed that adults of B. hilaris preferred to orient toward seedlings of B. oleracea and E. sativa over B. carinata . Field experiments confirmed these results. Then seedlings were tested in trap plant trials, by sowing them in artificial pots formed with aluminum trays and placing them in caper fields infested with B. hilaris . Results showed that E. sativa and B. oleracea diverted hundreds of B. hilaris individuals from the capers to these sources of attraction. Overall, these results suggest that B. oleracea and E. sativa seedlings used as lure inside traps or as trap plants may be a useful tool in the management of B. hilaris populations.

Keywords: painted bug; olfactometer; dual choice arena; host choice; Capparis spinosa; trap crop (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6361/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6361/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6361-:d:395802

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().