Transgenerational hormetic effects of sublethal dose of flupyradifurone on the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae)

Abstract

Both inhibitory and stimulatory (known as hormesis) effects of the sublethal flupyradifurone, a butenolide insecticide, on Myzus persicae Sulzer (Hemiptera: Aphididae) were investigated for incorporating it into integrated pest management (IPM). A leaf-dip bioassay showed that flupyradifurone was very toxic against adult M. persicae with a 48 h LC 50 of 8.491 mg/L. Using the age-stage two-sex life table approach, we assessed the effects of LC 25 of flupyradifurone on adult M. persicae and its progeny (F 1 and F 2 ). On the one hand, aphids exposed to flupyradifurone had significantly negative effects on the life history traits acrossing the generations, such as reduced the adult longevity and fecundity of F 0 , shortened the duration of third instar and fourth instar nymphs, preadult period and the pre-reproductive period of F 1 , and decreased the reproductive days and adult longevity of F 2 . On the other hand, stimulatory effects on the duration of pre-adult, adult reproductive days, and reproduction of F 1 were observed in the flupyradifurone-treated aphids. Consistently with the stimulation on individual traits, a higher net reproductive rate (R 0 ) of F 1 and a shorter mean generation time (T) of F 2 were observed in the flupyradifurone-treated aphids, although the other population parameters including the intrinsic rate of increase (r), finite rate of increase (λ) and T of F 1 and R 0 , r and λ of F 2 were not significantly affected. These results revealed that adult M. persicae exposed to sublethal concentration of flupyradifurone can induce hormetic effects on F 1, and also cause negative effects on F 2 . Our results would be useful for assessing the overall effects of flupyradifurone on M. persicae and the hormetic effects should take into consideration when use flupyradifurone for control M. persicae.