Assistant Professor North Florida Research and Education Center Quincy, Florida
The tobacco thrips, Frankliniella fusca Hinds, is a generalist plant-feeding pest and vector of orthotospoviruses in many crops worldwide. F. fusca causes direct feeding injury to peanut plants, resulting in leaf yellowing, terminal injury, curling, and yield loss. In addition to plant injury, thrips transmit the economically important tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) in all peanut market types grown in the U.S. TSWV infection causes spotted wilt disease, a plant disease characterized by chlorosis, stunting, and death, having significant effects on yield. The abiotic conditions such as temperature, rainfall, soil temperature, and landscape composition can affect the F. fusca populations and within field populations of F. fucsa. Here, we conducted a field study to monitor thrips populations from early spring to mid-season and corresponding TSWV incidence across the Florida panhandle from Okaloosa Co to Suwanee Co. Significant differences in the number of thrips per plant and TSWV incidences were seen at an individual field and county level. These differences are influenced by insecticide use, landscape and climate metrics, and planting dates. The connection between pest dispersal and host plant phenology provides an opportunity to predict the timing and magnitude of pest infestations and corresponding TSWV incidence from early-season hosts to provide more accurate infestation risk predictions to growers.
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