Organic Centre Wales Technical Note 3: Biology and Management of Soil pests

The majority of crops grown in the UK are host to single or multiple insect pests that feed on the growing plant at some stage of their life cycle. Insect pest is not strictly correct terminology because the pests come from a wide range of families or groups, from Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera (true flies), Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Molluscs (slugs and snails) and Nematodes. This technical sheet lists major and minor pests, provides a simple key for identifying soil pests, lists requirements for effective cultural control of pests and lists sources of further information

Improving detection probabilities for pests in stored grain

BACKGROUND: The presence of insects in stored grains is a significant problem for grain farmers, bulk grain handlers and distributors worldwide. Inspections of bulk grain commodities is essential to detect pests and therefore to reduce the risk of their presence in exported goods. It has been well documented that insect pests cluster in response to factors such as microclimatic conditions within bulk grain. Statistical sampling methodologies for grains, however, have typically considered pests and pathogens to be homogeneously distributed throughout grain commodities. In this paper we demonstrate a sampling methodology that accounts for the heterogeneous distribution of insects in bulk grains. RESULTS: We show that failure to account for the heterogeneous distribution of pests may lead to overestimates of the capacity for a sampling program to detect insects in bulk grains. Our results indicate the importance of the proportion of grain that is infested in addition to the density of pests within the infested grain. We also demonstrate that the probability of detecting pests in bulk grains increases as the number of sub-samples increases, even when the total volume or mass of grain sampled remains constant. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the importance of considering an appropriate biological model when developing sampling methodologies for insect pests. Accounting for a heterogeneous distribution of pests leads to a considerable improvement in the detection of pests over traditional sampling models

Management of plant health risks associated with processing of plant-based wastes: A review

The rise in international trade of plants and plant products has increased the risk of introduction and spread of plant pathogens and pests. In addition, new risks are arising from the implementation of more environmentally friendly methods of biodegradable waste disposal, such as composting and anaerobic digestion. As these disposal methods do not involve sterilisation, there is good evidence that certain plant pathogens and pests can survive these processes. The temperature/time profile of the disposal process is the most significant and easily defined factor in controlling plant pathogens and pests. In this review, the current evidence for temperature/time effects on plant pathogens and pests is summarised. The advantages and disadvantages of direct and indirect process validation for the verification of composting processes, to determine their efficacy in destroying plant pathogens and pests in biowaste, are discussed. The availability of detection technology and its appropriateness for assessing the survival of quarantine organisms is also reviewed

Can cover crops reduce arthropod pests in vineyards?

To control arthropod pests, cover crops can either directly repel harmful species or indirectly favour beneficials. In the CORE Organic Cofund project BIOVINE plant species are tested for their capacity to reduce the impact of arthropod pests

Economic Thresholds for Central European and North American Wheat Insects

The economic thresholds for implementing control of 24 wheat insect pests from Central Europe and North America are discussed. Additional studies on wheat pests are necessary to better define the existing thresholds

Automatic plant pest detection and recognition using k-means clustering algorithm and correspondence filters

Plant pest recognition and detection is vital for food security, quality of life and a stable agricultural economy. This research demonstrates the combination of the k-means clustering algorithm and the correspondence filter to achieve pest detection and recognition. The detection of the dataset is achieved by partitioning the data space into Voronoi cells, which tends to find clusters of comparable spatial extents, thereby separating the objects (pests) from the background (pest habitat). The detection is established by extracting the variant distinctive attributes between the pest and its habitat (leaf, stem) and using the correspondence filter to identify the plant pests to obtain correlation peak values for different datasets. This work further establishes that the recognition probability from the pest image is directly proportional to the height of the output signal and inversely proportional to the viewing angles, which further confirmed that the recognition of plant pests is a function of their position and viewing angle. It is encouraging to note that the correspondence filter can achieve rotational invariance of pests up to angles of 360 degrees, which proves the effectiveness of the algorithm for the detection and recognition of plant pests

Pests, plagues, and patents

The paper investigates the interaction between dynamic forms of incentive mechanisms (patent systems) and dynamic forms of problems (adaptations of pests and pathogens). Since biological problems recur, the design of the incentive mechanism must take into consideration: a) the need for investments into R&D that take into account the impermanence of the solution concepts; and b) the impact of this impermanence on the anticipated lifespan of any patent awarded for an innovation. The results indicate that patent systems must be carefully tailored to the nature of the problem under consideration

Impact of climate change on insect pests of trees

There are many interactions and it is exetremely difficult to predict the impact of climate change on insect pests in the future, but we may expect an increase of certain primary pests as well as secondary pests and invasive specie

Small Grain Disease and Insect Pest Scouting Report

A survey of small grain diseases and insect pests were conducted in Vermont and Massachusetts during the 2015 growing season. Pests were scouted at six Vermont farm locations in the towns of Alburgh, Berlin, Bridport, North Troy, Shelburne, and Shoreham, as well as in Northfield, Massachusetts