Mapping biological control research: A systematic review of 20 years of research in Indonesia

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Biological control research in Indonesia has a long history since it was started by Dutch scientists more than 100 years ago. Currently, the number of research has arisen, but there has been no systematic analysis of how this research produces technology that can be practiced in the field. This analysis is essential since it provides baseline information about biocontrol research and provides future research direction. This study aims to conduct a systematic review of biocontrol research conducted in Indonesia over the past 20 years. All articles were obtained from various databases using keywords related to biocontrol. A total of 437 articles were analyzed. We focussed our research on predators and parasitoids and found 269 articles related to parasitoids and predators. We found that biocontrol research in Indonesia was dominated by research on insect pathogens. Further analyses showed that research on identification and biology dominated most of the studies on predators and parasitoids. Almost all the research that was conducted addressed the basic biology of different types of natural enemies for different crops’ pests but has not addressed the full-scale host-parasitoid research that is needed to develop natural enemies that are ready to be released on a large scale. Four natural enemies have been reported in large-scale applications: Anagyrus lopezi, Lanius schach, Trichogramma spp., and Tetrastichus brontispae. There is limited research on the mass release of parasitoids or predators in the field. Most of the research on releases was focussed on the short-term establishment without long-term evaluation and measure of success. It leads to a knowledge gap in biological control research and should become one of the future research directions.