ASSOCIATION AND UTILIZATION OF BIO-AGENTS IN MANAGEMENT OF APHID INSECT-PESTS: A REVIEW

Urvi Sharma 1 , Surender K. Sharma 2 and Suman Sanjta 1 . 1. Ph. D. Scholars, Department of Entomology, CSK HP Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur. 2. Scientist (Entomology), Department of Organic Agriculture, CSK HP Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur, 176062 (H.P.) India. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History

At present, insecticide regulations are strict and the alternatives like biological control approaches are increasingly investigated worldwide. Keeping in view, the worldwide acceptance of organic produce, environment safety and immunity of insects, the present paper as reviewed literature would help in activating the momentum of using natural enemies against aphid insect-pests of crops. It is imperative to understand their association and further defining their use options in various insect management modules of Organic Agriculture, IPM or Sustainable Agriculture.

Predators:-
Coccinellids:-Aphid killing ladybeetles especially of subfamilies coccinellinae & scymninae have more than 5000 species of which 261 species of 57 genera have been reported predaceous in India (Omkar and Pervez, 2004

Parasitoids:-
Females lay eggs into aphids which after hatching (larvae) consume internal contents and transform to pupa. Adult chews out an emergence hole. The swollen parasitized aphids turn brown to gray and are called mummies. Aphidiinae, the monophyletic braconids are the major groups of specialist solitary endoparasitoids of aphids (Kambhampati et al., 2000). Their role as natural enemies of aphids in biological control programs has been established (Stary, 1970 Species from the Aphelinidae also specialize on aphids (Stary, 1988). This rather large Hymenoptera family contains over 1000 species in 50 genera and most are parasitoids of the Hemiptera, suborder Sternorryncha (Aleyrodoidea, Aphidoidea, Coccoidea). The genera attacking aphids are Aphelinus, Marietta, Protaphelinus and Mesidiopsis 2137 (Viggiani, 1984;Stary, 1988;Wei et al., 2005). All members of the Aphelinus genus are solitary koinobiont endoparasitoids of aphids. Other aphid braconid parasitoids of aphidiinae in India have also been recently catalogued with 22 genera with 125 species (Akhtar et al., 2011). The genus Aphidius contains 21 species, represents the largest group followed by Binodoxys, Praon, Pauesia, Ephedrus & Trioxys with 19, 12, 10, 9 &7 species, respectively, in India (Akhtar et al., 2011).
Endaphis with six species is an only known dipteran cecidomyiid aphid parasitoids. Endaphis spp. deposit their eggs near aphid colonies, the first instar larvae search aphids and develop as koinobiont endoparasitoids but mummies are not formed. Last instar larva emerges from aphid and falls on the ground to pupate in the soil (Muratori et al., 2009).

Conclusion:-
The efficient use of biodiversity in insect-pest management has become a priority in modern agriculture due to both reducing quantity and increasing cost of synthetic insecticides or insecticides' residue and resistance problems. However, some success to manage aphid insect-pests has been achieved by using wasp parasitoids, predators and fungal pathogens but extensive research on bioagents' interaction and standardized techniques are much needed.