Identification of the predominant predator of the date palm scale, Parlatoria blanchardi, using molecular markers in the palm groves of Bam

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Tutor, Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Vali–e–Asr University of Rafsanjan, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Vali–e–Asr University of Rafsanjan, Iran.

3 Professor, Soil Sciences and Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Vali–e–Asr University of Rafsanjan, Rafsanjan, Iran.

4 Assistant Professor, Plant Protection Research Department, Kerman Agriculture and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Kerman, Iran.

10.22092/bcpp.2024.366314.369

Abstract

Date palm is a valuable economic product in the southern regions of Iran. Kerman province has the largest cultivated area of date palm in the country. The date palm scale, Parlatoria blanchardi, is one of the key pests of date palm trees in Iran, which sometimes causes significant damage to date palm groves, particularly young trees. Date palm pest control has typically been conducted using insecticides over the past decades. However, considering the negative aspects of chemical control programs, integrated pest management (IPM) and biological control programs have gained attention in recent years. There are significant and effective predators in date palm groves, and one crucial factor in the success of biological control is finding the interactions between predators and their various prey, which is a key criterion for selection. The interactions between prey and predator, and between generalist predators and their various prey, are essential components of ecological studies aimed at explaining the processes of animal population dynamics that can be used in IPM programs. The use of molecular markers has increasingly been employed to determine effective natural enemies. Regular monthly sampling of predators was carried out to determine the frequency of P. blanchardi genome in the digestive systems of predators. DNA extraction was manually conducted using the CTAB–based method, and for examining the P. blanchardi genome, two molecular markers (233 and 186 base pairs) of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene from the date palm scale were used. The number and timing of sampling after feeding depend on the predator species studied and should be considered from the outset. The maximum detection time varies from a few hours to 5 days after feeding on the prey. Therefore, an experiment was designed to determine the maximum time for detecting the remnants of the prey genome in the predator's digestive system. The results confirmed the specificity of the primers used. The best time to detect the genome was determined to be 24 hours after feeding. Additionally, the results indicated that the coccinellid, Chilocorus bipustulatus L., with the highest frequency of detection based on the DNA of the date palm scale, is the dominant and effective species in the evaluated date palm groves. The results of this research have the potential to be used in biological control and ecological studies of predator–prey interactions.
.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Abhishek, T. & Dwivedi, S. 2021. Review on integrated pest management of coconut crop. International Journal of Entomology Research, 6: 115–120.
Agustí, N., Unruh, T.R. & Welter, S.C. 2003. Detecting Cacopsylla pyricola (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) in predator guts using COI mitochondrial markers. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 93(3): 179–185.
Blumberg, D. 1973. Field studies of Cybocephalus nigriceps nigriceps (J. Sahlberg)(Coleoptera: Cybocephalidae) in Israel. Journal of Natural History, 7(5): 567–571.
Bollinger, S., & Harwood, J. 2010. Diel and seasonal patterns of prey available to epigeal predators: Evidence for food limitation in a linyphiid spider community. Biological Control, 52: 84–90.
Calderon, N., Quesada, M., Cano–Camacho, H., & Zavala Paramo, M. 2010. A Simple and Rapid Method for DNA Isolation from Xylophagous Insects. International journal of molecular sciences, 11: 5056–5064.
Chen, Y., Giles, K.L., Payton, M.E. & Greenstone, M.H. 2000. Identifying key cereal aphid predators by molecular gut analysis. Molecular Ecology, 9(11): 1887–1898.
Duque–Gamboa, D. N. & Toro–Perea, N. 2023. Aphidophagous predators in commercial Capsicum cultivars and characterization of their trophic network using stomach content analysis. Journal of Applied Entomology, 147(9): 742–755.
Elshafie, H. 2012. Review: List of arthropod pests and their natural enemies identified worldwide on date palm, Phoenix dactylifera L. Agriculture and Biology Journal of North America, 3: 516–524.
Elshafie, H., Abdel–Banat, B., Mohammed, M. & Al–Hajhoj, M. 2019. Monitoring tools and sampling methods for major date palm pests. CAB Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources, 14.
Gariepy, T.D., Kuhlmann, U., Gillott, C. & Erlandson, M. 2007. Parasitoids, predators and PCR: the use of diagnostic molecular markers in biological control of Arthropods. Journal of Applied Entomology, 131(4): 225–240.  
Gomez–Polo, P., Alomar, O., Castañé, C. & Agustí, N. 2016. Molecular tracking of arthropod predator–prey interactions in Mediterranean lettuce crops. Food Webs, 9: 18–24.
González–Chang, M., Wratten, S., Lefort, M.C. & Boyer, S. 2016. Food webs and biological control. A review of molecular tools used to reveal trophic interactions in agricultural systems. Food Webs, 9: 22–30.
Greenstone, M.H., Rowley, D.L., Weber, D.C., Payton, M.E. & Hawthorne, D.J. 2007. Feeding mode and prey detectability half–lives in molecular gut–content analysis: an example with two predators of the Colorado potato beetle. Bull Entomol Res, 97(2): 201–209.
Hakima, I.I., Idder, M., Doumandji–Mitiche, B. & Chenchouni, H. 2015. Modeling the effects of climate on date palm scale (Parlatoria blanchardi) population dynamics during different phenological stages of life–history under hot arid conditions. International Journal of Biometeorology, 59: 1425–1436.
Heap, I. 2014. Global Perspective of Herbicide–Resistant Weeds. Pest management science, 70(9): 1306–1315.
Hoogendoorn, M. & Heimpel, G.E. 2001. PCR–based gut content analysis of insect predators: using ribosomal ITS–1 fragments from prey to estimate predation frequency. Molecular Ecology, 10(8): 2059–2067.
Johanowicz, D.L. & Hoy, M.A. 1996. Wolbachia in a Predator–Prey System: 16S Ribosomal Dna Analysis of Two Phytoseiids (Acari: Phytoseiidae) and Their Prey (Acari: Tetranychidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 89(3): 435–441.
Juen, A. & Traugott, M. 2005. Detecting predation and scavenging by DNA gut–content analysis: a case study using a soil insect predator–prey system. Oecologia, 142(3): 344–352.
Khan, R.R., Haq, I.U., & Naqvi, S.A. 2023. Pest and Disease Management in Date Palm. In Date Palm, 297–338.
Kim, T.N., Bukhman, Y.V., Jusino, M.A., Scully, E.D., Spiesman, B.J. & Gratton, C. 2022. Using high–throughput amplicon sequencing to determine diet of generalist lady beetles in agricultural landscapes. Biological Control, 170: 104920.
King, R.A., Read, D.S., Traugott, M. & Symondson, W.O. 2008. Molecular analysis of predation: a review of best practice for DNA–based approaches. Molecular Ecology, 17(4): 947–963.
King, R., Vaughan, I., Bell, J., Bohan, D. & Symondson, W.O. 2010. Prey choice by carabid beetles feeding on an earthworm community analysed using species– and lineage–specific PCR primers. Molecular Ecology, 19(8): 1721–1732.
Krehenwinkel, H., Kennedy, S., Pekar, S. & Gillespie, R. 2016. A cost efficient and simple protocol to enrich prey DNA from extractions of predatory arthropods for large scale gut content analysis by Illumina sequencing. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 8.
Krey, K.L., Cooper, W.R. & Renkema, J.M. 2020. Revealing the Diet of Generalist Insect Predators in Strawberry Fields: Not Only Pests, But Other Predators Beware. Environmental Entomology, 49(6): 1300–1306.
Latifian, M. 2017. Integrated Pest Management of Date Palm Fruit Pests: A Review. Journal of Entomology, 14: 112–121.
Maggio, D.H., Rossetti, V.Z., Santos, L.M.A., Carmezini, F.L. & Corrêa, A.S. 2022. A Molecular Marker to Identify Spodoptera frugiperda (JE Smith) DNA in Predators’ Gut Content. Insects, 13(7): 635.
Menalled, F., Alvarez, J. & Landis, D. 2004. Molecular techniques, habitat management and parasitoid conservation in annual cropping systems. In (pp. 101–115).
Mullins, C. 2008. Intraguild Predation among Coccinellidae and Lysiphlebus Testaceipes in an Oklahoma Winter Wheat System.
Nanini, F., Maggio, D., Gomes de Abreu, P., Rugno, G.R., Yamamoto, P. & Corrêa, A. 2019. Molecular Marker to Identify Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Liviidae) DNA in Gut Content of Predators. Neotropical Entomology, 48.
Normark, B., Okusu, A., Morse, G., Peterson, D., Itioka, T. & Schneider, S. 2019. Phylogeny and classification of armored scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Diaspididae). Zootaxa, 4616: 1–98.
Oerke, E.C. 2006. Crop Losses to Pests. The Journal of Agricultural Science, 144: 31–43.
Pimentel, D. & Burgess, M. 2013. Environmental and Economic Costs of the Application of Pesticides Primarily in the United States. Integrated Pest Management, 3: 47–71.
Sarnevesht, M., Gheibi, M., Hesami, S. & Zohdi, H. 2018. Predation by Anthocoris minki pistaciae Wagner (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) on Agonoscena pistaciae Burckhardt and Lauterer (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) at different temperatures. Egyptian Journal of Biological Pest Control, 28: 76–84
Stansly, Ph. 1984. Introduction and evaluation of Chilocorus bipustulatus [Col.: Coccinellidae] for control of Parlatoria blanchardi [Hom.: Diaspididae] in date groves of Niger. Biocontrol. 29: 29–39
Torr, S.J., Wilson, P.J., Schofield, S., Mangwiro, T.N., Akber, S. & White, B.N. 2001. Application of DNA markers to identify the individual–specific hosts of tsetse feeding on cattle. Med Vet Entomol, 15(1): 78–86.
Traugott, M. & Symondson, W.O.C. 2008. Molecular analysis of predation on parasitized hosts. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 98(3): 223–231.
Wright, G. 2023. Organic Date Production. pp. 339–366.
Yang, C., Preisser, E., Zhang, H., Liu, Y., Dai, L., Pan, H. & Zhou, X. 2016. Corrigendum: Selection of Reference Genes for RT–qPCR Analysis in Coccinella septempunctata to Assess Un–intended Effects of RNAi Transgenic Plants. Frontiers in Plant Science, 7: 1835–1845
Zohdi, H., Hosseini, R., Sahragard, A. & Mohammadi, A.H. 2015. Molecular detection of common pistachio psylla (Agonoscena pistaciae Burckhardt and Lauterer) in the gut contents of Oenopia conglobata Beetles. Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies, 3: 77–83
BioControl in Plant Protection
Volume 11, Issue 1
August 2023
Pages 97-108

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics