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Behavioural response of the fungus gnat, Bradysia impatiens (Diptera: Sciaridae) towards certain edible mushrooms and saprophytic fungi
Author(s) -
Xi Lulu,
Zhou Xiang,
Liu Yinquan,
Li You,
Shi Haojie,
Wu Hong,
Huang Junhao
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of applied entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.795
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1439-0418
pISSN - 0931-2048
DOI - 10.1111/jen.12857
Subject(s) - biology , sciaridae , mucor circinelloides , mushroom , impatiens , pleurotus ostreatus , mycelium , aspergillus flavus , fungus , botany , biological pest control , oyster , pest analysis , larva , horticulture , ecology , penicillium , mucor , cultivar
The fungus gnat Bradysia impatiens (Johannsen) is a worldwide pest inhabiting organic‐rich environments, including mushroom‐cultivation substrates, which leads to massive production losses of edible mushrooms. To promote a non‐insecticidal pest control strategy, we evaluated adult behavioural response towards two saprophytic fungal strains Aspergillus flavus Link and Mucor circinelloides Tiegh., isolated from B. impatiens ‐inhabiting substrates and six edible mushrooms species. Our results indicated that (a) B. impatiens was most attracted to the oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus among all six edible mushrooms; (b) males and females demonstrated a significant attraction for M . circinelloides over A. flavus and P . ostreatus ; (c) adults demonstrated dynamic attraction tendencies that varied with the culture periods of A. flavus and M. circinelloides , wherein females represented most (mean = 78.6%) of the attracted individuals; and (d) larvae that fed on mycelial cultures of M. circinelloides could complete their entire life cycles, but larvae could not survive on a non‐fungal or A. flavus diet. These results demonstrate the potential for the development of M. circinelloides in a push‐pull strategy to biocontrol this pest in edible mushroom cultivation.