Implementation Of Pest Management Research Articles

The Role of Symbiont-Targeted Strategies in the Management of Pentatomidae and Tephritidae Pests under an Integrated Vision

The interaction between insects and gut bacterial symbionts is, nowadays, regarded as an important element in the implementation of pest management, in consideration of the urgent need for sustainable alternatives to insecticide use. In this framework, a major tool is symbiotic control, with the main ready-to-use application represented by the interruption of obligate symbioses. Two insect families, namely Pentatomidae in the Hemiptera order and Tephritidae in Diptera, have been indicated as outstanding targets for symbiont-oriented control tactics. An important advantage of interrupting obligate symbioses is the target shift from insect to bacteria, which avoids insecticide use; however, the compatibility between this approach and other pest/disease management strategies is crucial to design low-impact pest control programs. Here we present the state of knowledge regarding the integration of symbiont manipulation in sustainable plant protection plans. Research assessing the potential for multitarget applications is reported, as well as studies on the impact of symbiont interruption on nontarget species. Besides symbiont-targeted pest control, another relevant outcome of symbiont manipulation is the restoration of microbial perturbation in mass-reared insects used in pest control programs, which is a required step to allow the success of other tactics, such as the Sterile Insect Technique. Despite the potential contribution that symbiont-targeted strategies may offer to integrated pest management, we point out that operational caveats may emerge in symbiont-oriented control in relation to the target extension on the label directions and to the number of required treatments. Future work is needed to increase the target range and the number of tested formulations exploiting the interruption of bacterial symbioses. This will also require assessment of the effect of different products on beneficial organisms, including biological control agents. Finally, the authorization of formulates for symbiotic control should be taken into consideration by the regulatory bodies, to really promote new readily available control options.

Successful Integrated Pest Management Minimizes the Economic Impact of Diatraea saccharalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) on the Louisiana Sugarcane Industry.

The sugarcane borer, Diatraea saccharalis (F.), is the primary pest of sugarcane, Saccharum spp., in Louisiana. Recent evidence suggests an integrated pest management (IPM) program has reduced the pest's impact, but the success of this program has not been assessed across the industry. The level of D. saccharalis injury present at harvest was recorded from 388 billet samples from five sugar mills from 2017 to 2019. These results were used to estimate direct and indirect revenue losses from D. saccharalis on the Louisiana sugarcane industry. Insecticide use records were used to estimate control costs and determine total economic impact. The mean percentage of bored internodes was 1.1, 0.3, and 1.7% for 2017, 2018, and 2019, respectively. Direct losses from reduced sugar yield averaged US$4.6 million across years. Indirect losses across years accounted for US$3.0 million and $463,000 for insecticidal control costs and reduced milling efficiency, respectively. The total economic impact of D. saccharalis averaged $8.0 million annually during the three-year study period. This study demonstrates the efficacy of pest management implementation in reducing D. saccharalis injury and highlights the value of IPM. Our findings provide new support for the emergence of D. saccharalis management in the Louisiana sugarcane industry as a modern IPM success story.

Assessing Integrated Pest Management Implementation and Knowledge Gaps in South Dakota

Assessing Integrated Pest Management Implementation and Knowledge Gaps in South Dakota

Plant protection in Poland on the eve of obligatory integrated pest management implementation

Integrated pest management (IPM) will be obligatory in all European Union (EU) member states from January 1, 2014. Successful IPM implementation will depend not only on the sound guidelines and goodwill of the farmers, but also on conditions in farmers' environment. This paper presents the most important factors influencing IPM implementation in Poland. The most favorable aspects on the eve of obligatory IPM implementation are the relatively low use of plant protection products and popularity of some non-chemical methods of pest control, such as sowing cereal in mixture. The most important challenges are the improvement of advisory service and the crop structure with almost three-quarters of sown area covered by cereals.

Growers' Perceptions and Adoption Practices of Integrated Pest Management in West Virginia

Integrated Pest Management implementation continues to be an important topic among growers. Although the continuing concerns over the residual effects of pesticides have prompted government regulations to encourage environmentally friendly approaches to pest management, adoption levels remain stagnant. The study reported here investigates the perceptions and IPM adoption practices of corn growers in West Virginia. Respondents agreed that repeated use of herbicides and insecticides with the same mode of action leads to herbicide-resistant weeds and insecticide-resistant insect pests. Additionally, scouting was the most commonly used IPM practice for insect, disease, and weed control. Recommendations for practice are also discussed.

Comprehensive survey of the present status of environmental management of pesticides consumption in rice paddies

Environmental management of pesticide consumption is one of the most important aspects of pest management programs. The present study was carried out considering the farmers' knowledge, attitudes and practices of pest management in rice paddies in four Iranian cities: Sari, Babol, Amol and Nour in Mazandaran province, which are the highest rice-cultivating regions. The effective factors in pesticide consumption management are education, pesticide application technology, regulations, Integrated Pest Management implementation and the price of pesticides; therefore, a questionnaire with 27 items regarding these factors was designed and 220 farmers were interviewed. The obtained data were converted to quantitative measures by the Likert procedure and then analyzed by descriptive statistical methods. In order to evaluate the current status of pesticide environmental management, the quantitative information was categorized into five levels: very poor, poor, medium, good and excellent, based on the Food and Agricultural Organization and Iran Plant Protection Organization index. The weakness of the education parameter in studied samples was one of the most significant results of this research. The total education score was 1.9, which is very poor. The study demonstrated that the existing regulations have many deficiencies in comparison with the standards. The 48% overall management rank was considered poor. In 35%, the pest management rank was medium and in 17%, the rank was very poor. No good or excellent rank was obtained in this research. Hence, a comprehensive practical program needs to be initiated to improve the present status of pesticide consumption management in the province. The results achieved in this study may be used as a database to establish a management and monitoring program for pesticide consumption environmental management in Mazandaran province.

Economic Impact of Pecan Integrated Pest Management Implementation in Texas

The Texas pecan integrated pest management (IPM) program, begun in the early 1970s, was evaluated using research and demonstration IPM trial data and producer survey responses. The initial survey conducted in 1981 was chosen as the base line against which later surveys were compared to measure the economic impact of an IPM program. Producers in Texas reduced fungicide use 30%, insecticide use 35%, and the overall number of spray applications per season 9% from 1980 to the present. Producers practicing an IPM program realized contemporaneous benefits of $3.93 million annually from 1994 to 1996 compared with conventional program producers, and the overall economic benefits to pecan producers were estimated to be $6.06 million per year during 1990-1996 from the pecan IPM program in Texas. Needed nutritional amendments of zinc were identified as the current principal spray component applied to improved pecans that prevents further substantial reductions in management costs.

Factors Influencing Pesticide Use and Integrated Pest Management Implementation in Urban Landscapes: A Case Study in Atlanta

Questionnaires on pesticide use and other aspects of integrated pest management (IPM) were mailed to 1678 lawn care and landscape maintenance firms in the 20 county metropolitan Atlanta area. The survey return rate adjusted for nonapplicable addresses and undeliverable mailings was 25.4%, yielding a total of 350 usable surveys. Responding lawn care and landscape maintenance professionals purchased a total active ingredient of 250,527 lb (93,447 kg) of herbicide, 35,416 lb (13,210 kg) of insecticide and 10,367 lb (3,867 kg) of fungicide during 1993. Most insecticides and fungicides were applied during June, July, and August. About one-third of herbicides were applied during March to May, one-third during June to August, and one-third during September to February. Key pests and plants were identified by survey respondents. Opportunities and impediments to implementation of IPM in the landscape as reported by respondents are discussed.

IPM in the forests of British Columbia, Canada

The 51.2 million ha of productive forest land in British Columbia are surveyed annually by the Forest Insect and Disease Survey of Forestry Canada. The development of provincial pest management capabilities is reviewed from their creation in 1980 through to their present organization in six regions across British Columbia. Basic research is carried out at Universities and at Forestry Canada while the operational implementation of pest management is the responsibility of the pest management (forest health) personnel in the B.C. Ministry of Forests.

A Computer-based, Extension Pest Management Delivery System 1

Extension entomologists traditionally have faced the problem of collecting, integrating, and reporting data relevant to agriculture with only crude information processing capabilities at their disposal. This paper discusses the use of computer-based extension delivery systems to augment the flows of information in a modern pest management implementation program. The paper identifies the needs and constraints associated with an integrated pest management (IPM) data acquisition/delivery system developed for pests of apples and other crops in Michigan. The fact that these needs impel a reassessment of customary extension entomology methods is emphasized. Examples of information application types including biological data, weather data, pest population and management models, memoranda, reference data, system documentation, and educational or performance evaluation programs are given. A computer-based Pest Management Executive System (PMEX) is presented. The system consists of a central computer with appropriate software and a telecommunications network linking extension offices scattered over a wide area. At these sites, remote data terminals are used to update and interrogate a large data-base associated with on-line pest management. The implications of prototype IPM extension systems in this class as opposed to extension delivery systems in general are discussed.