How to reduce the incidence of black bean aphids (Aphis fabae Scop.) attacking organic growing field beans (Vicia faba L.) by growing partially resistant bean varieties and by intercropping field beans with cereals

Abstract

There is an increasing demand for organically grown pulses and cereal grains in Denmark, which is expected to cause a change in the typical organic farm structure away from dairy farming and towards arable farming. Spring field beans (Vicia faba) could be a popular break crop in organic agriculture. The black bean aphid (Aphis fabae) is generally considered to be a serious pest of spring-sown field beans in northern Europe, and field studies have shown that yield losses can exceed more than 50% due to attacks from the black bean aphid. The use of insecticides in organically grown field bean crops is not permitted, but it has been known for a long time that the black bean aphid infests different varieties of beans to a very different extent. Therefore, partial resistance to the black bean aphid is one method of stabilizing yields. Another method of cultural pest control is intercropping and a third method could be a combination of both. Six field experiments involving the three methods were carried out. There was a significant difference between the number of aphids per plant on the three investigated bean varieties, where ‘Colombo’ was the most susceptible, ‘Quattro’ was intermediate, and ‘Caspar’ the most resistant variety. ‘Colombo’ intercropping with spring wheat and spring barley reduced the numbers of aphids per plant significantly, and also the number of plants infested. The harvesting of all crops took place during the last fourteen days of August. It can be concluded that the growing of partial host plant resistant varieties of field beans or the intercropping of field beans with spring cereals separately will reduce the infestation with black bean aphids. If both methods are used, the reduction of infestation will be even higher and consequently also the yield.