History and Contemporary Perspectives of the Integrated Pest Management of Soybean in Brazil

Abstract

The integrated pest management (IPM) of soybean developed and implemented in Brazil was one of the most successful programs of pest management in the world. Established during the 1970s, it showed a tremendous level of adoption by growers, decreasing the amount of insecticide use by over 50%. It included outstanding approaches of field scouting and decision making, considering the economic injury levels (EILs) for the major pests. Two main biological control programs were highly important to support the soybean IPM program in Brazil, i.e., the use of a NPVAg to control the major defoliator, the velvet bean caterpillar, Anticarsia gemmatalis Hübner, and the use of egg parasitoids against the seed-sucking stink bugs, in particular, the southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.). These two biological control programs plus pests scouting, and the use of more selective insecticides considering the EILs supported the IPM program through the 1980s and 1990s. With the change in the landscape, with the adoption of the no-tillage cultivation system and the introduction of more intense multiple cropping, and with the lower input to divulge and adapt the IPM program to this new reality, the program started to decline during the years 2000s. Nowadays, soybean IPM is almost a forgotten control technology. In this mini-review article, suggestions are made to possibly revive and adapt the soybean IPM to contemporary time.