Preplant release of <i>Nesidiocoris tenuis</i> and supplementary tactics for control of <i>Tuta absoluta</i> and <i>Bemisa tabaci</i> in greenhouse tomato

Abstract An early release system developed for Nesidiocoris tenuis Reuter (Heteroptera: Miridae) could provide a good control of Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) in tomato. Tuta absoluta and the whitefly Bemisia tabaci Gennadius (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) often appear simultaneously in tomato crops and this might affect control capacity. Therefore, the new approach needs to be tested in a situation with both pests present. In addition, Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner and Trichogramma achaeae Nagaraja &amp; Nagarkatti (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) have been shown to be effective against T. absoluta and could be a supplement to N. tenuis . Two experiments were carried out to evaluate the potential of this approach and its combination with supplementary control agents against T. absoluta . In the first experiment four treatments were compared ( T. absoluta , B. tabaci , T. absoluta + N. tenuis , and T. absoluta + B. tabaci + N. tenuis ) and N. tenuis was able to control T. absoluta and B. tabaci either alone or together. In the second experiment, five treatments were compared: T. absoluta , T. absoluta + N. tenuis , T. absoluta + N. tenuis + T. achaeae , T. absoluta + N. tenuis + B. thuringiensis , and T. absoluta + N. tenuis + T. achaeae + B. thuringiensis . Nesidiocoris tenuis again proved capable of significantly reducing T. absoluta populations, and the implementation of additional agents did not increase its effectiveness.