Study of tritrophic interactions in apple orchards to enhance sustainable management of pest aphids
Zaid Badra , Sergio Angeli
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PHOTO of the
Speaker
Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Faculty of Science and Technology, Piazza Università 5, 39100 Bolzano
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Research background
• Aphids are considered as a key pests in apple orchard and managing them is considered a challenge.
• Plants respond to insect herbivory by releasing specific volatile compounds called herbivore-induced-plant-volatiles (HIPVs).
• These compounds are known to play important ecological roles, regulating several ecosystem interactions, such as plant-pest, plant-plant, and plant-predatory.
Research aims
• Characterise the HIPV blend produced by apple foliage under the attack of 3 aphid species.
• Investigate the importance of these volatiles for the chosen pest insect by lab experiments
• Check the attractiveness of some volatiles to natural enemies in field
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Aphid species that attack apple trees, woolly apple aphid, rosy apple aphid and green apple aphid
Cry for help phenomenon
Relevence of the Thesis
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Materials and Methods
In order to investigate and
understand the ecological role
of these volatiles we will field
experiments
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To have a better understanding of
the role of these volatiles we will
use 4-way olfactometer to test the
behavioral responses of aphids/
natural enemies towards several
stimuli.
Headspace samples were taken in filed from non-treated apple orchards of the ‘EcoOrchard’ project:
- cv. Fuji infested Eriosoma lanigerum
- cv. Gala infested with Dysaphis plantaginea
- cv. Gala infested with Aphis pomi
- control treatment, healthy plants
four – way olfactometer at the Free University of Bolzano
Organic managed apple orchard (block 26), with cv. Gala at Laimburg Research Center
Closed-Loop Stripping Analysis (CLSA-GC-MS)
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Preliminary results of the characterizing showed that each aphid species induced the release of specific pattern of volatiles, an indication of species-specific responses of apple trees to each aphid species. p-Cymene was released only by Cv. Fuji infested with E. lanigerum, while benzaldehyde and (E) beta-farnesene were released only by cv. Gala infested with Aphis pomi. All infested apple trees released caryophyllene but was significantly higher only in cv. Gala infested with D. plantaginea.
Headspace profiles of aphid-infested and healthy apple branches
Preliminary Results and Prospectum
Conclusion and Future perspective
• First indications of HIPVs of aphid-infest apple trees
• Specific volatiles released by apple trees infested with different aphid sp.
• Understand possible coevolution as species level
Future work:
Laboratory and field experiment by using the identified compounds
Abundance
Thank You Address :
E-mail : [email protected]
Phone number : 3209427567 Zaid George Badra
Get in Touch Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Faculty of Science and Technology, Piazza Università 5, 39100 Bolzano
