Beneficial insects that farmers should know about

(Baonghean.vn) -In agricultural ecosystems, besides insects that harm crops, there are also beneficial species that farmers are less aware of and therefore less likely to protect.

Currently, with the trend of intensive farming and multiple cropping, coupled with the indiscriminate use of pesticides exceeding the prescribed dosage and concentration by farmers, beneficial insect species have declined and biodiversity in agricultural ecosystems has decreased. To help farmers understand and be more aware of protecting beneficial organisms, we would like to share the following information:

Natural enemiesThese are beneficial natural organisms that either eat or infect insects that harm agricultural production. Each agricultural ecosystem has different groups of natural enemies, playing an important role in limiting the growth of pest populations.

Today, the use of natural enemies is one of the biological control methods widely applied in agricultural production. Below are some beneficial natural enemies that farmers can utilize to help their crops grow better.

Spider

Carnivorous spiders, dwarf spiders, jumping spiders, web spiders, lynx spiders, etc., all feed on insects. Whether living on land or in water, spiders are very good at hunting prey, which are other insects. An adult spider can eat up to 15 prey animals per day.

stink bugs

Within this pest family, there are a few that are beneficial to crops, such as the green stink bug and the water stink bug, which often use their proboscis to suck up eggs and kill rice planthoppers.

Each green stink bug consumes 7-10 eggs or 1-5 aphids per day, while water stink bugs can eat up to 10 aphids per day.

Ladybug

This is a diverse group of insects, beneficial in both their larval and adult stages. They are oval-shaped and come in various colors: red, yellow, or with many black spots on their backs.

Beneficial ladybug species include: Red ladybug (Micraspis sp.); yellow ladybug (M. crocea); six-spotted ladybug (Menochilus sexmaculatus); eight-spotted ladybug (Hamonia octomaculata). Both adult and larval stages of these ladybugs feed on adult brown planthoppers, nymphs (young planthoppers), and planthopper eggs; each individual can consume 5-10 planthoppers per day.

Parasitic wasps

Examples of parasitic wasps include the small cocoon wasp, the black wasp, and the red-eyed green wasp. They lay their eggs inside the eggs or larvae of their host. The wasp eggs then develop, destroying the host. A single wasp can lay several dozen eggs in a day.

Additionally, there is another parasitic wasp species called the polyembryonic wasp, which parasitizes leaf-rolling caterpillars. This wasp lays a single egg inside a leaf-rolling caterpillar's egg. However, this initial wasp egg quickly divides into many eggs, which can hatch into more than 200 wasps.

Ants

Wherever there are living things on Earth, there are ants. Most species of ants are carnivorous, and their favorite food is insects.

Dragonfly

There are many species of dragonflies. They can catch prey in mid-air, or dive down like helicopters. Dragonflies feed mostly on insects and worms. Few can escape the onslaught of these "dragonfly air forces."

Grasshopper

They look similar to grasshoppers and locusts, but they don't eat plants… They are usually most active at night, and their preferred food is stem borers, leafhoppers, and aphids.

Praying mantis

This is one of the "top-notch" predators; they probably rarely return empty-handed when they go hunting for prey, their victims being insects that harm rice and other agricultural crops.

Pinseye

Earwigs are glossy black, with a white band between the abdominal segments and a white spot at the tip of their antennae. They usually live in dry rice fields and build nests underground at the base of rice plants. These insects crawl into the tunnels created by rice stem borers to find young larvae. Sometimes they climb onto leaves to hunt for leaf-rolling caterpillars. They can eat 20-30 prey per day.

Three-segmented beetle

The three-segmented beetle (Ophionea nigrofasciata) is a highly active, hard-bodied insect. Its larvae are glossy black, while the adults are reddish-brown. They typically attack leaf-rolling caterpillars and other lepidopteran larvae, and are commonly found in both rice paddies and other cultivated fields.

blister beetle

The rove beetle (Paederus fucipes) is reddish-brown with a large black stripe running across its back, forming a black segment. They usually hide in grassy areas and decaying straw piles in rice fields, building nests underground and laying eggs. When brown planthoppers or leaf-rolling caterpillars appear in rice fields, they seek them out, crawl into the nests, and devour the insects one by one.

On average, each rove beetle can eat 3-5 larvae per day. This species of beetle is also commonly found in crop fields.

Tran Thi Hoai Phuong

(Nghe An Agricultural Extension Center)