Assessment of Orius insidiosus as a biological control agent for chili thrips in commercial strawberry production

Strawberry is an important specialty crop grown in Florida, generating revenue of about $500 million annually. Many pests attack strawberries in the field. Chilli thrips Scirtothrips dorsalis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) Hood, is an invasive pest currently expanding its range throughout the Southeastern United States. In the recent past, S dorsalis has become a significant threat to Florida Strawberry production. Pesticide applications are not always helpful in managing this pest because of the high potential of developing insecticidal resistance. The biological control option heavily depends on the augmentative release of predatory mites. The use of the generalist predator Orius insidious (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) has never been explored for the biological control of S. dorsalis in Florida strawberries. The experiment was conducted in laboratory conditions at GCREC. The O. insidious was purchased from a commercial source for the experiment. The chilli thrips were used from the colony maintained by the strawberry and small fruit entomology lab. Ten adult chilli thrips and one adult Orius were released on the strawberry leaf in a small petri dish and were kept inside a growth chamber at 25⁰ C and 65 % RH for 24 hours. After 24 hours, the number of alive chilli thrips was counted under the microscope. A similar experiment was conducted with the 5,10, 20 adult chilli thrips. The rate of daily prey consumption and functional response with increased prey density of the Orius spp. was assessed.