Improvement on Natural Enemies of Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) Using Extracts of Agrimonia pilosa

Compared with the numerous natural enemies against insect pests that have been identified, the commercialization of natural biological control resources remains very limited. To increase the use of natural enemies for biological control, determining how to improve the low efficacy, slow speed, and high cost of natural enemies is very important. Mediterranean species of The whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodoidea), increasingly threatens many crops in China, and control primarily depends on chemical insecticides. Here, the effect of ethanol extracts from two plants, Agrimonia pilosa (Ledeb) (Rosales: Rosaceae) and Melia azedarach (Linn) (Meliaceae: Melia), on predominant natural enemies of B. tabaci was investigated using a leaf dipping or spraying method. The results showed that the ethanol extract of A. pilosa significantly improved the infectivity of the fungus Isaria javanica (Friedrichs & Bally) (Ascomycota: Hypocreales), and the mortality of whiteflies caused by the combination of fungus (105 spores/mL) with the extract of A. pilosa (2 mg/mL dried powder of A. pilosa containing 0.0942 mg/mL total polyphenols) was 81.6%, which was significantly higher than that caused by the fungus only. However, the ethanol extract of M. azedarach had no effect on fungus infectivity. Additionally, insecticide tolerance of the predator Pardosa pseudoannulata was also significantly improved by the extract of A. pilosa. The longevity of the parasitoid Encarsia formosa was not affected by the extracts. These findings indicate that the extract of A. pilosa played a dual role that included improving pathogenic fungi infectivity and insecticidal tolerance of a predator and thus could be a synergist in the biological control of B. tabaci.