ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Crop Biology and Sustainability
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1672706
This article is part of the Research TopicCrop Production and Its Relationship with the Production of Vegetable Raw MaterialsView all articles
Synergistic Control of Aphis fabae Scop. (Hemiptera: Aphididae) on Faba Bean Using Botanical Extracts and Predatory Ladybirds
Provisionally accepted
Mohamed.elaalaoui@inra.ma EL AALAOUI1
Ciobica Alin2,3
Fatima Zahra Kamal4
SAID RAMMALI5Cristina Albert6*Vasile Burlui6Mohamed Sbaghi7- 1National Institute of Agricultural Research, Avenue Ennasr, BP 415 Rabat principal, 10090 Rabat, Mo-rocco, Rabat, Morocco
- 2Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iași, Romania
- 3Universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza Facultatea de Biologie, Iași, Romania
- 4Higher Institute of Nursing Professions and Health Technical (ISPITS), Casablanca, Morocco, Casablanca, Morocco
- 5Human Nutrition, Bioacives and Oncogenetics Team, Faculty of Sciences, Moulay Ismail University, Meknes 11201, Morocco, Meknes, Morocco
- 6Clinical Department, Apollonia University, Păcurari Street 11, 700511 Iasi, Romania, Iasi, Romania
- 7National Institute of Agricultural Research, Avenue Ennasr, BP 415 Rabat principal, 10090 Rabat, Morocco, Rabat, Morocco
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Aphis fabae Scop. (Hemiptera: Aphididae) poses a major threat to Vicia faba L. crops, demanding sustainable control strategies. We assessed the single and combined efficacy of two predatory ladybirds-Coccinella septempunctata (CS) and Hippodamia convergens (HC)-with two 10 % botanical extracts-Nicotiana glauca (NG) and Ricinus communis (RC) (Solanaceae)-against A. fabae under screenhouse conditions (25 ± 1 °C; 60 ± 10 % RH). Ten treatments, including imidacloprid (ICP, 20 mL hL⁻¹) as a positive control, were tested in a randomized complete-block design (3 replicates × 7 plants). Ladybirds were released one-week post-treatment. Combined treatments were most effective in reducing A. fabae populations. By week 5, egg densities dropped from ~95 to 2.0 (RC+CS treatment) and 3.9 (RC+HC treatment), compared to 15.0 with imidacloprid (ICP). Motile stages declined to 10 (RC+CS treatment) and 15 (RC+HC treatment), versus 45 with ICP treatment. NG-based combinations showed moderate efficacy, while single treatments were less consistent. Ladybird establishment was not affected by extracts. C. septempunctata reached 10.2 motile stages per three leaves per plant in RC+CS treatment by week 5, compared to 8.7 in CS treatment. H. convergens reached 10.0 motile stages per three leaves per plant in RC+HC treatment. Plant visual scores peaked at 9.67 (RC+CS treatment) and 9.35 (RC+HC treatment), outperforming imidacloprid (visual score: 8.25). The synergy between R. communis or N. glauca extracts and ladybird predators offers an effective alternative to imidacloprid for A. fabae control. Field trials and timing optimisation are recommended to integrate these tactics into faba-bean IPM programmes.
Keywords: Biocompatibility, secondary metabolites, Polyphagous predators, trophic interactions, Functional Response, sustainability assessment
Received: 24 Jul 2025; Accepted: 20 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 EL AALAOUI, Alin, Kamal, RAMMALI, Albert, Burlui and Sbaghi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Cristina Albert, Clinical Department, Apollonia University, Păcurari Street 11, 700511 Iasi, Romania, Iasi, Romania
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