Terezinha Monteiro dos Santos-Cividanes

Although food is produced in aquaponics systems worldwide, no information is available on the occurrence of insect pests and natural enemies in aquaponic lettuce, Lactuca sativa L. In this study, a survey was carried out in an aquaponic system combining lettuce with lambari, Astyanax altiparanae (Garutti & Briski), aiming to determine the insect pests and natural enemies associated with this system. We also determined the predominant insect species and the effect of meteorological factors on their populations. Insect abundance was estimated by visual sampling during 13 cultivation cycles, totaling 27 sampling dates. The meteorological factors considered were air temperature and relative humidity, and their effects were determined using the Pearson correlation. The thrips Frankliniella schultzei (Trybom) and Caliothrips phaseoli (Hood) and the aphid Aphis spiraecola (Patch) predominated. Ambient temperature and relative humidity were essential factors affecting C. phaseoli and F. schultzei. The natural enemies found on the lettuce plants were the thrips Franklinothrips vespiformis (Crawford) and Stomatothrips angustipennis (Hood) and the ladybugs Cycloneda sanguinea L., Eriopis connexa (Germar), and Hippodamia convergens (Guérin-Méneville). These results constitute the first step for a lettuce-integrated pest-management program in aquaponics systems.

Although food is produced in aquaponics systems worldwide, no information is available on the occurrence of insect pests and natural enemies in aquaponic lettuce, Lactuca sativa L. In this study, a survey was carried out in an aquaponic system combining lettuce with lambari, Astyanax altiparanae (Garutti & Briski), aiming to determine the insect pests and natural enemies associated with this system. We also determined the predominant insect species and the effect of meteorological factors on their populations. Insect abundance was estimated by visual sampling during 13 cultivation cycles, totaling 27 sampling dates. The meteorological factors considered were air temperature and relative humidity, and their effects were determined using the Pearson correlation. The thrips Frankliniella schultzei (Trybom) and Caliothrips phaseoli (Hood) and the aphid Aphis spiraecola (Patch) predominated. Ambient temperature and relative humidity were essential factors affecting C. phaseoli and F. schultzei. The natural enemies found on the lettuce plants were the thrips Franklinothrips vespiformis (Crawford) and Stomatothrips angustipennis (Hood) and the ladybugs Cycloneda sanguinea L., Eriopis connexa (Germar), and Hippodamia convergens (Guérin-Méneville). These results constitute the first step for a lettuce-integrated pest-management program in aquaponics systems.

The Asian lady beetle Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) is a biological control agent that also may adversely impact other coccinellid species. Life table parameters were used to assess the population growth potential and the effects of interspecific competition between the invasive lady beetle H. axyridis and the native coccinellids Hippodamia convergens and Cycloneda sanguinea (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) under laboratory conditions at 25 °C, using Schizaphis graminum (Hemiptera: Aphididae) as prey. The effects of the abiotic factors air temperature and humidity on these coccinellids by conducting a survey in a sorghum crop under average conditions of 18.1 °C and 53.5%, respectively, were also assessed. Fecundity was higher in C. sanguinea (1021.0 eggs per female) and H. axyridis (1029.2 eggs per female) than in H. convergens (484.5 eggs per female). The majority of the life table parameters showed no significant differences. The instantaneous rates of population increase (rm) of C. sanguinea, H. axyridis, and H. convergens were 0.195, 0.198, and 0.194 d–1, respectively. Based on the life table parameters obtained in this study, all three species of Coccinellidae showed a similar capacity to control a S. graminum population.

Organic agriculture is distinguished by practices that benefit the environment and support sustainable agriculture. In the present study, leafy kale, Brassica oleracea L. var. acephala DC., was submitted to chemical and organic (castor bean cake and bovine manure) fertilization treatments aiming to verify the influence of these fertilizers on the occurrence of insect pests and natural enemies. The insects were sampled by visual examination of plants and pitfall traps. Brevicoryne brassicae (L.) and Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) were the phytophagous insects that occurred more significantly in kale, under chemical rather than organic fertilization, whereas Harmonia axyridis (Pallas), Hippodamia convergens (Guérin-Méneville) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), Diaeretiella rapae (M’Intosh) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) were abundant in kale under organic fertilizer. The study showed that castor bean cake and bovine manure as leafy kale fertilizers can reduce the use of insecticides and provide quality food.

A survey of Carabidae (Coleoptera) was done at three sites located in the Jaboticabal and Guaíra municipalities in the state of São Paulo, Brazil from November 2004 to May 2008. Each site had a forest fragment, a soybean/corn crop field, and a forest edge between them. The survey's objective was to evaluate the beetles' habitat preferences and determine the carabid species with potential for biological pest control. Beetles were captured by pitfall traps arranged along two parallel transects 200 m long, placed across the crop, edge, and forest fragment. Of 27 species on which cluster and correspondence analyzes were performed, 10 revealed preference for the crop, 10 for the edge, 1 behaved as crop-edge species, and six preferred the forest fragment. Calosoma granulatum (Perty), Tetracha brasiliensis (Kirby), Scarites sp. 3, and Scarites sp. 4 occurred in high densities in the crop interior, suggesting they may play an important role in the control of soybean/corn pests. The small number of carabi...