Al-Zyoud, F.A.; I.H. Ghabeish and S.A. Al-Araj

2013

Positive density-dependent prey mortality of Bemisia tabaci puparia due to the predatory coccinellid Serangium parcesetosum Sicard

Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment 11: 417-420.

The relationship between the consumption rate of the predator Serangium parcesetosum Sicard (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) and the prey density of Bemisia tabaci (Genn.) (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) was studied. Adult’s female predators of seven-day-old were singly used with different densities of whitefly puparia to determine their response pattern. Type of density dependent prey mortality due to S. parcesetosum was found to confirm its efficacy in regulating prey populations. The predator imposes positive density dependent (type III functional response). The proportion of prey consumed increased to an inflection point of the sigmoid curve, followed by a decrease in the proportion of prey consumed. The predator functional response can be simulated by Hollings disc equation and expressed as: (Number of prey consumed, Ne = 0.82 N / 1 + 0.0016 N) (where N represents number of prey offered) and by the reciprocal linear transformation of Hollings equation as: (y = 1.2218 x – 0.0019). The estimated search rate (a) is 5.74 cm and the handling time (Th) is 3 minutes. Results confirmed that S. parcesetosum can be used as a promising biological control agent against B. tabaci since it has a type III functional response and a positive density dependent to the prey.