The wheat aphids, Rhopalosiphum padi (Linnaeus) and Sitobion avenae (Fabricius), are key pests on wheat crops worldwide. Management practices rely primarily on insecticides. The pirimicarb (carbamate) is used extensively as an effective insecticide to control these two aphids. In addition to the mortality caused by pirimicarb, various sublethal effects may occur in aphids when exposed to low le...

Amino acid level is well known indicator of plant resistance to aphids. Our earlier studies showed that grain aphid (Sitobion avenae F.) infestation caused changes in the activity of the enzymes connected with amino acid biosynthesis and the transformation to defensive secondary metabolites within triticale tissues. However, there are not data on the significance of aminotransferases in these p...

Aphids feed on plant phloem sap, rich in sugars but poor in essential amino acids. However, sugars cause osmotic regulation problems for aphids, which they overcome by hydrolysing the sugars in their gut and polymerising the hydrolysis products into oligosaccharides, excreted with honeydew. Aphids harbour primary bacterial endosymbionts, which supply them with essential amino acids necessary fo...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are root symbionts that can increase or decrease aphid growth rates and reproduction, but the reason by which this happens is unknown. To investigate the underlying mechanisms of this interaction, we examined the effect of AM fungi on the English Grain aphid (Sitobion avenae) development, reproduction, attraction, settlement and feeding behaviour on two natural...

The lack of recent insecticide innovations and the withdrawal efficient, but ecotoxic molecules (e.g. neonicotinoids) may lead to a shift older insecticidal active substances, particularly pyrethroids. evolution resistance this family insecticides has long been recognized, including in many aphid species such as grain Sitobion avenae. target-site mechanism involved, named kdr (knock-down resist...

The English grain aphid, Sitobion avenae, is a major pest species of wheat crops; however, certain varieties may have stronger resistance to infestation than others. Here, we investigated 3 classical resistance mechanisms (antixenosis, antibiosis, and tolerance) by 14 wheat varieties/lines to S. avenae under laboratory and field conditions. Under laboratory conditions, alatae given the choice b...

During parasitoid development, the immature parasitoid is confined to the host species. As a result, any potential to modify the physiology or behaviour of the host could play an important role in parasitoid fitness. The potential for host manipulation by the aphid parasitoid Aphidius avenae to increase cold thermotolerance was investigated using the aphid host species Metopolophium dirhodum an...