The aim of this study was to determine the effect of plant physical structures of leaf surface on the first step of host plant preference behavior of predacious thrips, Scolothrips longicornis. The experiment was carried out using individual predators on two sets of leaf disks belonging to four host plants (cucumber, tomato, sweet pepper and eggplant) and the couple units of the plant leaf disks (tomato + cucumber, cucumber + eggplant and eggplant + tomato). Time taken for selection process was set to 5 minutes. The number selecting each plant and time needed to make decision were recorded and analyzed. Final results revealed the predator had no significant preference to the four plant disks, except in couple combination tests, eggplant with some physical features such as trichome type and density had the highest rate of selection. Predacious thrips preferred host plants with rational dense trichomes, which are arranged in clusters and leave some space for the predator to walk, search prey and also oviposit. Plants such as sweet pepper with low trichome density were not favorable for the predator. The predator could make decision between host plants within a family with similar leaf surface structure sooner than plants of different plant families confirming the effect of host plant structure on predator foraging behavior.
Keywords
Host Plant, Preference and Scolothrips longicornis.
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