Eight principles of Integrated Pest Management.
01 Jan 2017-Vol. 53, Iss: 10, pp 429-453
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a dynamic and flexible approach that accounts for the diversity of farming situations and the complexities of agroecosystems and that can improve the resilience of cropping systems and our capacity to adapt crop protection to local realities.
Abstract: The use of pesticides made it possible to increase yields, simplify cropping systems, and forego more complicated crop protection strategies. Over-reliance on chemical control, however, is associated with contamination of ecosystems and undesirable health effects. The future of crop production is now also threatened by emergence of pest resistance and declining availability of active substances. There is therefore a need to design cropping systems less dependent on synthetic pesticides. Consequently, the European Union requires the application of eight principles (P) of Integrated Pest Management that fit within sustainable farm management. Here, we propose to farmers, advisors, and researchers a dynamic and flexible approach that accounts for the diversity of farming situations and the complexities of agroecosystems and that can improve the resilience of cropping systems and our capacity to adapt crop protection to local realities. For each principle (P), we suggest that (P1) the design of inherently robust cropping systems using a combination of agronomic levers is key to prevention. (P2) Local availability of monitoring, warning, and forecasting systems is a reality to contend with. (P3) The decision-making process can integrate cropping system factors to develop longer-term strategies. (P4) The combination of non-chemical methods that may be individually less efficient than pesticides can generate valuable synergies. (P5) Development of new biological agents and products and the use of existing databases offer options for the selection of products minimizing impact on health, the environment, and biological regulation of pests. (P6) Reduced pesticide use can be effectively combined with other tactics. (P7) Addressing the root causes of pesticide resistance is the best way to find sustainable crop protection solutions. And (P8) integration of multi-season effects and trade-offs in evaluation criteria will help develop sustainable solutions.
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TL;DR: It is demonstrated that low pesticide use rarely decreases productivity and profitability in arable farms, and that pesticide reduction is already accessible to farmers in most production situations.
Abstract: Achieving sustainable crop production while feeding an increasing world population is one of the most ambitious challenges of this century1. Meeting this challenge will necessarily imply a drastic reduction of adverse environmental effects arising from agricultural activities2. The reduction of pesticide use is one of the critical drivers to preserve the environment and human health. Pesticide use could be reduced through the adoption of new production strategies3–5; however, whether substantial reductions of pesticide use are possible without impacting crop productivity and profitability is debatable6–17. Here, we demonstrated that low pesticide use rarely decreases productivity and profitability in arable farms. We analysed the potential conflicts between pesticide use and productivity or profitability with data from 946 non-organic arable commercial farms showing contrasting levels of pesticide use and covering a wide range of production situations in France. We failed to detect any conflict between low pesticide use and both high productivity and high profitability in 77% of the farms. We estimated that total pesticide use could be reduced by 42% without any negative effects on both productivity and profitability in 59% of farms from our national network. This corresponded to an average reduction of 37, 47 and 60% of herbicide, fungicide and insecticide use, respectively. The potential for reducing pesticide use appeared higher in farms with currently high pesticide use than in farms with low pesticide use. Our results demonstrate that pesticide reduction is already accessible to farmers in most production situations. This would imply profound changes in market organization and trade balance. Pesticide is a threat to the environment and human health. Whether reducing pesticide would necessarily undermine crop productivity remains elusive. Analyses of data from 946 farms in France show that reducing pesticide rarely decreases productivity.
264 citations
TL;DR: It is concluded that there are opportunities for reduction in many parts of Europe without significant losses in crop yields, and that improvements and/or adoption of the knowledge and technologies of IPM can still achieve large gains in pesticide reduction.
Abstract: Whether modern agriculture without conventional pesticides will be possible or not is a matter of debate. The debate is meaningful within the context of rising health and environmental awareness on one hand, and the global challenge of feeding a steadily growing human population on the other. Conventional pesticide use has come under pressure in many countries, and some European Union (EU) Member States have adopted policies for risk reduction following Directive 2009/128/EC, the sustainable use of pesticides. Highly diverse crop production systems across Europe, having varied geographic and climatic conditions, increase the complexity of European crop protection. The economic competitiveness of European agriculture is challenged by the current legislation, which banned the use of many previously authorized pesticides that are still available and applied in other parts of the world. This challenge could place EU agricultural production at a disadvantage, so EU farmers are seeking help from the research community to foster and support integrated pest management (IPM). Ensuring stable crop yields and quality while reducing the reliance on pesticides is a challenge facing the farming community is today. Considering this, we focus on several diverse situations in European agriculture in general and in European crop protection in particular. We emphasize that the marked biophysical and socio-economic differences across Europe have led to a situation where a meaningful reduction in pesticide use can hardly be achieved. Nevertheless, improvements and/or adoption of the knowledge and technologies of IPM can still achieve large gains in pesticide reduction. In this overview, the current pest problems and their integrated management are discussed in the context of specific geographic regions of Europe, with a particular emphasis on reduced pesticide use. We conclude that there are opportunities for reduction in many parts of Europe without significant losses in crop yields.
258 citations
TL;DR: The purpose of the present review is to gather and discuss up-to-date biological activities of EO against weeds, plant pathogenic fungi, oomycetes and bacteria, reported in the scientific literature.
Abstract: Naturally produced by aromatic plants, essential oils (EO) contain a wide range of volatile molecules, including mostly secondary metabolites, which possess several biological activities. Essential oils properties such as antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities are known for a long time and hence widely used in traditional medicines, cosmetics and food industries. However, despite their effects against many phytopathogenic fungi, oomycetes and bacteria as well as weeds, their use in agriculture remains surprisingly scarce. The purpose of the present review is to gather and discuss up-to-date biological activities of EO against weeds, plant pathogenic fungi, oomycetes and bacteria, reported in the scientific literature. Innovative methods, potentially valuable to improve the efficiency and reliability of EO, have been investigated. In particular, their use towards a more sustainable agriculture has been discussed, aiming at encouraging the use of alternative products to substitute synthetic pesticides to control weeds and plant diseases, without significantly affecting crop yields. An overview of the market and the recent advances on the regulation of these products as well as future challenges to promote their development and wider use in disease management programs is described. Because of several recent reviews on EO insecticidal properties, this topic is not covered in the present review.
196 citations
TL;DR: This work identifies and integrate the key biological processes affecting natural enemies and their biological control function across local and regional scales, and considers the interactions, interdependencies and constraints that determine the outcome of CBC strategies.
155 citations
TL;DR: An overview and discussion of the screening systems reported to select novel BCAs for biocontrol of microbial plant diseases and the importance of the type and origin of candidate BCA collections as a significant determinant of the Screening success are presented.
135 citations
References
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TL;DR: The results support the view that intraspecific crop diversification provides an ecological approach to disease control that can be highly effective over a large area and contribute to the sustainability of crop production.
Abstract: Crop heterogeneity is a possible solution to the vulnerability of monocultured crops to disease1,2,3. Both theory4 and observation2,3 indicate that genetic heterogeneity provides greater disease suppression when used over large areas, though experimental data are lacking. Here we report a unique cooperation among farmers, researchers and extension personnel in Yunnan Province, China—genetically diversified rice crops were planted in all the rice fields in five townships in 1998 and ten townships in 1999. Control plots of monocultured crops allowed us to calculate the effect of diversity on the severity of rice blast, the major disease of rice5. Disease-susceptible rice varieties planted in mixtures with resistant varieties had 89% greater yield and blast was 94% less severe than when they were grown in monoculture. The experiment was so successful that fungicidal sprays were no longer applied by the end of the two-year programme. Our results support the view that intraspecific crop diversification provides an ecological approach to disease control that can be highly effective over a large area and contribute to the sustainability of crop production.
1,434 citations
TL;DR: The principles of the strategy are described, the potential components are listed, and case studies reviewing work on the development and use of push-pull strategies in each of the major areas of pest control are presented.
Abstract: Push-pull strategies involve the behavioral manipulation of insect pests and their natural enemies via the integration of stimuli that act to make the protected resource unattractive or unsuitable to the pests (push) while luring them toward an attractive source (pull) from where the pests are subsequently removed. The push and pull components are generally nontoxic. Therefore, the strategies are usually integrated with methods for population reduction, preferably biological control. Push-pull strategies maximize efficacy of behavior-manipulating stimuli through the additive and synergistic effects of integrating their use. By orchestrating a predictable distribution of pests, efficiency of population-reducing components can also be increased. The strategy is a useful tool for integrated pest management programs reducing pesticide input. We describe the principles of the strategy, list the potential components, and present case studies reviewing work on the development and use of push-pull strategies in each of the major areas of pest control.
1,245 citations
01 Oct 1959
TL;DR: In the field of pest control, chemical and biological control are regarded as two main methods of suppressing insects and spider mites as discussed by the authors, and chemical control is used as necessary and in a manner which is least disruptive to biological control.
Abstract: Chemical and biological control are regarded as two main methods of suppressing insects
and spider mites. These two methods are often thought of as alternatives in pest control.
This is not necessarily so, for with adequate knowledge they can be made to augment
one another.
Biological control is part of the permanent natural control of population density.
Chemical controls involve only immediate and temporary decimation of localized populations
and do not contribute to natural control. Natural control may keep a pest species
from ever reaching the economic-injury level or it may permit economic outbreaks.
The frequency of these pest outbreaks varies from a regular to an occasional occurrence
depending upon the level of the general equilibrium position in relation to the economic
injury level and the types of fluctuations about the general equilibrium position.
Integrated control combines and integrates biological and chemical controls. Chemical
control is used as necessary and in a manner which is least disruptive to biological
control. Integrated control may make use of naturally occurring biological control
as well as modified or introduced biological control. Thought must be given to the
biological control of not only the primary pest under consideration but also other
potential pests.
Integrated control is most successful when sound economic thresholds have been established,
rapid sampling methods have been devised, and selective insecticides are available.
In some situations, the development of integrated control requires the augmentation
of biological control through the introduction of additional natural enemies or modification
of the environment.
Integrated control of the spotted alfalfa aphid has been achieved in California. Economic
thresholds were established so that insecticides are applied only when damage is imminent.
Native predators, introduced parasites, and entomogenous fungi now keep the spotted-alfalfa-aphid
populations below the economic threshold for most of the year. When population counts
in the individual field clearly demonstrate that a field is threatened, Systox is
applied at low dosages. These chemical treatments give adequate control, but do not necessarily eradicate the aphids. Most of the predators
and parasites survive and persist on the remaining aphids.
980 citations