Combined use of zoophytophagous mirids for sustainable biological protection of greenhouse tomato crops

Table 1 Response of the number of N. tenuis, M. pygmaeus and D. errans adults per plant to the initial density of M. pygmaeus introduced, the presence of D. errans, and the second-order interaction. (-) parameters not included in the model

Explanatory variables	d.f	N. tenuis		M. pygmaeus		D. errans
Explanatory variables	d.f	χ²	P	χ²	P	χ²	P
1st generation
M. pygmaeus density * D. errans presence	1	0.283	0.59	0.0907	0.76	–	–
M. pygmaeus density	1	0.006	0.94	18.3	< 0.001 *** c	0.0770	0.93
D. errans presence	1	0.438	0.51	2.18	0.14	–	–
2nd generation
M. pygmaeus density * D. errans presence	1	15.4	< 0.001 * a,e**	1.69	0.19	–	–
M. pygmaeus density	1	–	–	37.0	< 0.001 *** d	0.0760	0.92
D. errans presence	1	–	–	1.83	0.18	–	–
3rd generation
M. pygmaeus density * D. errans presence	1	0.235	0.63
M. pygmaeus density	1	3.97	0.046 * b,e
D. errans presence	1	56.1	< 0.001 * b,e**

^** P < 0.01; *** P < 0.001; ‘–’ effects not tested
Model coefficients: a Intercept 5.25; Mp15 0.983; De 0.367; Mp15De − 1.92. b Intercept 5.60; Mp15 0.413; De − 1.63. c Intercept 0.930 Mp15 0.336. d Intercept − 1.29; Mp15 1.12. ‘Mp15′ 15 M. pygmaeus initially introduced per plant; ‘De’ D. errans present. e linear mixed models; the other models used were generalised linear mixed models with a negative binomial error distribution. Generation time: N. tenuis 3 weeks (1st generation Weeks 1–3; 2nd generation Weeks 4–6; 3rd generation Weeks 7–8); M. pygmaeus and D. errans 4 weeks (1st generation Weeks 1–4; 2nd generation Weeks 5–8)

ISSN: 2662-4044