Student Poster Display
Plant-Insect Ecosystems
Student
Student Competition
Mahendra Pawar
The Pennsylvania State University
State College, Pennsylvania
Sara Hermann
Assistant Research Professor
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
The surge in demand for sustainable organic food has fueled the expansion of organic farming globally. Organic farmers have a limited arsenal of pest control tools as compared to conventional agricultural practices. Thus, organic farming practices require the development of innovative pest control approaches. Semiochemicals produced by plants and insects such as plant attractants, repellants, insect sex pheromones, and aggregation pheromones play a significant role in shaping the complex interactions between plants, insects, and their natural enemies and are extensively used for sustainable management of insect pest populations. Predator semiochemicals act as information cues for prey and can affect prey feeding, behavior, and survival. However, studies investigating the effect of predator semiochemicals on pests are limited.
Our preliminary studies show that ladybeetle predator odors significantly reduce aphid pest feeding, survival, host-choice, morphology, and fecundity. These results provide a promising opportunity to develop a predator-based semiochemical tool for pest management. However, it is important to understand how predator semiochemicals affect insect pests in broader ecological contexts. We investigated the important compounds in the ladybeetle odor blend and evaluated the effect of isolated semiochemical blend on key insect pest traits. We assessed the effect of semiochemical blend on pest population in the Brassica field. This work provides crucial information about the potential of predator semiochemicals as a novel and sustainable approach for pest management that can be used synergistically with existing biological control methods.