Biology and functional response of Oenopia sauzeti (Mulsant) on peach leaf curl aphid, Brachycaudus helichrysi (Kaltenbach)

Brachycaudus helichrysi, also known as peach leaf curl aphid is a destructive pest that poses a grave threat to peach and nectarine cultivation. The existing management practices primarily rely on applying synthetic insecticides whose indiscriminate use has led to a myriad of problems. To address these issues, biological control agents like ladybirds ( Oenopia sauzeti ) have emerged as an environment friendly alternative strategy. Till now, there has been a dearth of precise information on the biology, fecundity as well as functional response of O. sauzeti against B. helichrysi . The present study assesses the demographic parameters and functional response of O. sauzeti preying on B. helichrysi under laboratory conditions at 25 ± 1 °C, 70 ± 5% RH and 12 L: 12 D photoperiod and aims to provide valuable insights for its potential use in pest management. The findings showed a net reproductive rate, gross reproductive rate, true generation time and intrinsic rate of increase of 59.92 females/predator, 76.95 offspring per individual, 33.36 days and 0.12, respectively. The results showed that O. sauzeti exhibited a type II functional response. The highest predation rate was observed in the adults (78.21), which was significantly different from 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd and 4 th larval instars (19.68, 32.30, 36.49 and 51.64, respectively) of the coccinellid. This research provides essential information for using O. sauzeti as a biocontrol agent for B. helichrysi and would prove beneficial to sustainable pest management strategies in stone fruit cultivation.