South African Citrus Thrips in Australia - Identity, Pest Status and Control
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South African citrus thrips in Australia - identity, pest status and control Chris Freebairn QLD Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries Project Number: CT03022 CT03022 This report is published by Horticulture Australia Ltd to pass on information concerning horticultural research and development undertaken for the citrus industry. The research contained in this report was funded by Horticulture Australia Ltd with the financial support of the citrus industry. All expressions of opinion are not to be regarded as expressing the opinion of Horticulture Australia Ltd or any authority of the Australian Government. The Company and the Australian Government accept no responsibility for any of the opinions or the accuracy of the information contained in this report and readers should rely upon their own enquiries in making decisions concerning their own interests. ISBN 0 7341 1695 0 Published and distributed by: Horticultural Australia Ltd Level 7 179 Elizabeth Street Sydney NSW 2000 Telephone: (02) 8295 2300 Fax: (02) 8295 2399 E-Mail: [email protected] © Copyright 2008 FINAL REPORT: CT03022 South African citrus thrips in Australia: identity, pest status and control (October 2003 – February 2008) Author: Christopher Gavin Freebairn Research provider: Primary Industries & Fisheries, Queensland Maroochy Research Station, Nambour - 1 - South African citrus thrips in Australia: identity, pest status and control. HAL CT03022 Project Leader Other team members C.G. Freebairn, Entomologist Daniel Smith (deceased) [email protected] Jonathan Smith, Technical Officer Lindsay Smith, Operational assistant Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries, Queensland Maroochy Research Station, Nambour. Purpose The purpose the research reported here was to assess the potential risk to Australian citrus (and other horticultural crops) posed by South African citrus thrips, Scirtothrips aurantii, a serious exotic pest first detected in Australia in Brisbane in March 2002, and to assess control and management options compatible with Queensland’s longstanding citrus IPM system. Disclaimer Recommendations contained in this publication do not represent HAL policy. No person should act on the basis of the contents of this publication, whether as to matters of fact, opinion or other content, without first obtaining specific, independent professional advice. Funded by: - 2 - Contents Page MEDIA SUMMARY ……….…….…………........….……..………….……….….....…... 4 TECHNICAL SUMMARY …….………………..….…………….……..……………… 5 Extension ……..…..…....……..........…………….….…...………………..……………….… 6 Acknowledgments ………….…...................……..…...………..…………………..……… 7 TECHNICAL REPORT 1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION ………………........................…………….….………....…. 8 2. THRIPS REARING & BIOLOGY………………….....…………………………………… 12 3. HOST UTILISATION AND PERFORMANCE ..……….........……...........…..…………… 17 4. INSECTICIDE EFFICACY…………………….……..……….….………………………… 66 5. PREDATION BY Euseius victoriensis ..…..….…..…....…………..…...………….….. 72 6. SURVEILLANCE & PEST RISK ANALYSIS…..…….……........……………………..…. 73 7. GENERAL DISCUSSION ......……………..…….…........……….……………………. 75 8. CONCLUSIONS ……………………………….….…..…........………………………… 84 9. RECOMMENDATIONS & FURTHER RESEARCH ……...……………….………. 85 BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………….…….……….........………………………… 86 Figures……………………….……………………...………….…………………………..….. 100 Plates…………..………….……………………………………….…………………………… 108 Appendices 1. Milestone reports……………………..……………………..….…….….……………….. 116 2. Citrus Insight reports ………………………………..…..……………….……………… 129 3. Australian Citrus News article………….………………..……....….…………………. 136 4. Exposure of potted citrus to SACT experiment report ……...........……………… 138 5. Pest risk analysis & Surveillance reports…………………..………………… 144 FRONT COVER Scirtothrips aurantii (ovipositing – top R; female & male – bottom L & R), a major citrus pest in Southern Africa, was detected for the first time in Australia in 2002 on the declared noxious exotic succulent plants Bryophyllum delagoense (top left), then the subject of a weed biocontrol program. Given its potential to damage citrus fruits for up to 12 weeks from petal fall, we conducted laboratory experiments to determine the potential host range of this thrips in Australia to assess the threat it posed to citrus and other crops, and evaluated insecticide and biocontrol options compatible with Queensland’s long standing citrus IPM system. - 3 - MEDIA SUMMARY South African citrus thrips (SACT), Scirtothrips aurantii, is a major pest of citrus in South Africa, banana in Yemen and grapes in Réunion; it also attacks mango, macadamia and tea. Control relies largely on pesticides, to which it rapidly develops resistance. First detected in Australia in Brisbane in March 2002 on mother of millions, weedy Madagascan succulents, SACT posed a serious threat to Queensland horticulture, including the $100M citrus crop. If SACT behaved in Australia as it does in South African citrus, costs of production would increase, fruit pack-outs fall, and the longstanding IPM system, which relies heavily on a suite of biological control agents likely to be disrupted by increased insecticide usage, would be jeopardised. Climate matching indicted that the threat also extended to southern Australia. SACT is reported from a very broad range of plants, however, in extensive surveillance in Brisbane it was found breeding only on mother of millions, and did not attack citrus, mango or native plants such as Acacia or Grevillea. This aroused speculation that SACT in Australia could be a host-restricted cryptic species, actually not S. aurantii but another species indistinguishable from it, that lives on Bryophyllum but does not attack citrus or other crops. We tested the capacity of Australian S. aurantii to reproduce on 16 crop, 7 ornamental, 8 native and 5 weed species. To develop strategies to manage it in our horticultural crops we tested its susceptibility to insecticides registered in citrus, determined the capacity of the native predatory mite Euseius victoriensis to kill and survive on this thrips, conducted surveillance in the Sunshine Coast area and communicated our findings to Industry. We found that Australian S. aurantii – 1) reproduced at very high levels on Bryophyllum, the traded succulent Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, macadamia and mango - 2) reproduced at moderate to good levels on Navelina orange, Tahitian lime, Eureka lemon, grapefruit, peach, grape, tea and the natives Acacia sophorae, A. longifolia and Syzygium moorei - 3) performed poorly or very poorly, but produced some offspring on many on the other plants tested. We also found that Australian S. aurantii adults were highly susceptible to very low rates of all insecticides tested, and that the predatory mite Euseius victoriensis killed up to six first and small second instar larvae per day, and survived as well on a diet of SACT as on Typha pollen, the food used to mass rear the predator. These findings suggest S. aurantii in Australia could attack important crops, and that natives such as Acacia may act as bridging hosts, allowing it to survive in the absence of its apparently preferred hosts, mother of millions. They also suggest, however, that if this thrips ever attacks Australian crops it should be easily controlled, as it was highly susceptibility to very low rates of a range of insecticides. The predatory mite E. victoriensis killed up to 6 larvae per day and should contribute to biological control if this thrips ever attacks citrus. In the most recent surveys S. aurantii was found at numerous sites on the Darling Downs, the most northerly near Taroom, only 150 km west of Mundubbera in the Central Burnett, Queensland’s largest citrus producing area. These detections indicate a rapid expansion in range of the thrips, previously known only from suburban Brisbane and Laidley, but again it was found only on mother of millions, to which it was causing significant damage. If S. aurantii continues to prefer the widespread and weedy mother of millions, for which it will provide a degree of biological control, and refrains from attacking the valuable crops that overseas experience and our research has shown it can utilise as hosts, this may be one of those rare occasions when a potentially devastating exotic pest incursion turns out to be a good thing, and the Australian form of SACT can be renamed the ‘Bryophyllum thrips’. - 4 - TECHNICAL SUMMARY The problem Scirtothrips aurantii, a major pest of citrus in South Africa, and a pest of mango, macadamia, banana and grape in the region, was found in Brisbane in 2002. This exotic thrips represented a threat to horticultural crops and a serious challenge to citrus IPM. It develops rapidly, has many generations yearly, a broad host range, readily develops resistance to insecticides, and is very damaging to citrus fruits for up to 12 weeks after petal fall. Extensive surveillance in Brisbane detected breeding populations on the exotic succulent weeds Bryophyllum spp., but not on any of the expected crop or native hosts such as citrus, mango, Acacia or Grevillea. The science We developed a rearing method for S. aurantii, determined its’ potential to attack crop, native, ornamental and weed species; determined its’ susceptibility to insecticides; assessed the capacity of the predatory mite Euseius victoriensis to kill and persist on larvae, surveyed Bryophyllum on the Sunshine Coast and communicated our findings to Industry. We found that Australian S. aurantii: 1. Developed successfully on a range of hosts, but performed best on Bryophyllum