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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Agro-Food Safety
Volume 8 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2024.1469247

Effectiveness of the entomopathogenic fungus Alternaria murispora and the predatory ladybird Harmonia convergens in controlling Phenacoccus solenopsis (Tinsley)

Provisionally accepted
Mohamed.elaalaoui@inra.ma EL AALAOUI Mohamed.elaalaoui@inra.ma EL AALAOUI 1SAID RAMMALI SAID RAMMALI 2Fatima Zahra Kamal Fatima Zahra Kamal 3,4Gabriela Calin (Mihalache) Gabriela Calin (Mihalache) 5*Viorica Rarinca Viorica Rarinca 5,6,7*Luminita Diana Hritcu Luminita Diana Hritcu 8*Ciobica Alin Ciobica Alin 10,9*Mohamed Sbaghi Mohamed Sbaghi 1*
  • 1 National Institute of Agricultural Research, Avenue Ennasr, BP 415 Rabat principal, 10090 Rabat, Morocco, RABAT, Morocco
  • 2 Hassan First University of Settat, Faculty of Sciences and Techniques, Laboratory of Agro-Alimentary and Health, B.P. 539, Settat 26000, Morocco, SETTAT, Morocco
  • 3 Higher Institute of Nursing Professions and Health Technical (ISPITS), Marrakech 40000, Morocco, marrakech, Morocco
  • 4 Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Processes and Materials, Faculty of Sciences and Techniques, Hassan First University, Settat 26000, Morocco, settat, Morocco
  • 5 Preclinical Department, Apollonia University, Pacurari Street 11, 700511 Iasi, Romania;, iasi, Romania
  • 6 Doctoral School of Biology, Faculty of Biology, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, Carol I Avenue, 20A, Iasi, Romania;, iasi, Romania
  • 7 Doctoral School of Geosciences, Faculty of Geography and Geology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza Uni-versity of Iasi, No 20A, Carol I Avenue, 700505 Iasi, Romania;, iasi, Romania
  • 8 Department of Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Iasi University of Life Sciences,Mihail Sadoveanu Street, No 3, 700490 Iasi, Romania, IASI, Romania
  • 9 Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iași, Romania
  • 10 UAIC, Iasi, Romania

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) is a major pest that causes significant damage to many crops worldwide, necessitating effective control methods. This study evaluated five treatments under screenhouse conditions: untreated control, Harmonia convergens (HC) alone, Alternaria murispora (AM) alone, AM+HC, and imidacloprid (positive control). Conducted over two experiments, the study involved weekly monitoring for five weeks to assess P. solenopsis and HC densities and treated plants' visual quality. In Experiment 1, AM+HC reduced mealybug densities to 2.0 by week 5, compared to 184.2 in the untreated control. Similarly, in Experiment 2, AM+HC decreased densities to 0.8, while the control had 189.6 mealybugs. Egg counts reflected these trends, with AM+HC showing the lowest counts (1.8 in Experiment 1 and 0.8 in Experiment 2) versus the control's high counts (282.0 in Experiment 1 and 287.3 in Experiment 2). AM+HC had the highest plant visual quality scores (9.8 in Experiment 1 and 9.9 in Experiment 2), while the control scores were much lower (1.2 and 0.3, respectively). Predator densities peaked at 28.1 for HC alone in Experiment 1 and 32.1 in Experiment 2, with AM+HC reaching 14.7 and 18.2, respectively. Mummy counts were initially higher in AM alone but increased significantly in AM+HC by weeks 3 and 4. Experiment 2 had a higher mean temperature (22.17°C) compared to Experiment 1 (20.78°C), though this did not affect treatment efficacy. In conclusion, AM+HC proved most effective in reducing P. solenopsis densities and maintaining plant health, demonstrating its potential as a sustainable alternative to chemical pesticides.

    Keywords: biological control, Integrated Pest Management, Mealybug infestation, plant health, Pest density

    Received: 23 Jul 2024; Accepted: 30 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 EL AALAOUI, RAMMALI, Kamal, Calin (Mihalache), Rarinca, Hritcu, Alin and Sbaghi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Gabriela Calin (Mihalache), Preclinical Department, Apollonia University, Pacurari Street 11, 700511 Iasi, Romania;, iasi, Romania
    Viorica Rarinca, Preclinical Department, Apollonia University, Pacurari Street 11, 700511 Iasi, Romania;, iasi, Romania
    Luminita Diana Hritcu, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Iasi University of Life Sciences,Mihail Sadoveanu Street, No 3, 700490 Iasi, Romania, IASI, Romania
    Ciobica Alin, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iași, Romania
    Mohamed Sbaghi, National Institute of Agricultural Research, Avenue Ennasr, BP 415 Rabat principal, 10090 Rabat, Morocco, RABAT, Morocco

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