Thrips is a major pest in the highland area of East Java. They attack Solanaceae crops (hotpepper, tomato etc.) both in greenhouse and open field. I think the best way to minimize the damage caused by this pest is the use of resistance variety. I am trying to conduct research into rearing and screening for Thrips resistance on Solanaceae crops. I need a protocol or method for this research, is there anyone who has experience in this field and can share a protocol or method?
Hi Candra,
I work with Western Flower Thrips, and I use zucchinis (from the grocery store) to maintain the colony and sync the age of females or/and larvae. I tried beans pods but they get dry very fast and it is time consuming. I also tried pepper and cucumber fruits, which are alternatives for zucchini, but zucchini works the best.
Hi Candra,
I worked with WFT, Thrips tabaci and Aeolothrips intermedius. The first one were reared on pollen and green bean pods as a food source and oviposition site. Large-scale rearing was carried out in 1 L gauze-covered glass jars (about 300 thrips per jar) and corrugated cardboard on the bottom provided pupation sites. Jars were stored in growth chambers at 25±1°C, 65±5% r.h. and 16:8 L:D (Tedeschi et al., 2001). Fresh bean pods and pine pollen were periodically added to jars to refurbish food source and oviposition site. T. tabaci and A. intermedius was reared on leek with the method previously described.
In both cases, bean pods and leek need to be refurbished, but was done one-two times in a week in 1h ...
Hi Candra,
We used to work on WFT and have published a paper in 1998 describing the rearing of this pest and a protocol of resistance monitoring for it. You can download a full-paper in my site at the Researchgate. In case, I can send you the PDF.
Article: Kontsedalov et al. (1998) @ J. Econ. Entomol. 91(5): 1067-1071.
AR Horowitz
Hi Claudia and Giulia, thank you for sharing your experiences. It is so helpful.
Is it also works for other Thrips species (especially for tropical species)
Hi Horowitz, thank you for your attention. I have some varieties of Solanaceae crop. I am trying to conduct a research to verify their resistance to Thrips population. I need to know several points, e.g. number of Thrips which needed to be infested, period of observation after Thrips infestation, and scoring of symptom on tested crops. I would be very grateful if you send the PDF.
Hi Candra,
We rear WFT, Frankliniella schultzei, Megalurothrips sjostedti, Ceratothripoides brunneus and Thrips tabaci in our lab. While the first four species are reared on French beans, we rear Thrips tabaci on Snowpea. However with regards to the tropical thrips species you most commonly encounter on solanaceous crops, they could be Thrips parvispinus or Thrips palmi. I suggest you could try to establish a colony with a solanaceous vegetable like Eggplant since they have a better shelf life as compared to others like tomato. You could also try pepper especially for Thrips parvispinus.
Hi Candra,
We also rear WFT on French beans in glass jars because it is easy to get a right stage you need. You just have to remove all adults (or beans) after 1 day every time and then you can be sure that all thrips you get from the beens are the same age. We rear also Echinothrips americanus this way. At 25 C and 70% RV whole development cycle takes about 10 days
hi Horowitz, I want to work on mulberry thrips, Pseudendrothrips mori, which is a serious threat to sericulture industry in India. Please send me the pdf file of the article Kontsedalov et al. (1998) @ J. Econ. Entomol. 91(5): 1067-1071, which may be helpful to me. Thank you with kind regards.
I tried to make it, but failed due to its eccessive complexity, in my opinion. You must pay attention to thrips handling, movements, eggs in the water, etc.
Anyway, I admire anybody who did it!!
Hi, Candra,
We have reared Thrips palmi for eight years. We can control even ages for insecticide bioassay and thrips-transmitted Watermelon silver mottle virus. We used White Dutch runner bean to rear them. The runner bean leaves were put on wet cottons and can maintain at least 5-7 days. You maybe be able to try it. I attached our rearing processes. I hope it is good for you.
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