Biological control of pests in protected cultivation: implementation in Latin America and successes in Europe

The area with greenhouse crops is estimated to be around 40,000 hectares in Latin America, of which approximately 60% is occupied with ornamentals. Several pests are responsible for losses in yield or quality of greenhouse crops production and pest control is still mainly by chemicals. However, there are several stimuli for the adoption of biological control strategies as an IPM component, not only for the export market of products, but also for increased use of sustainable plant protection methods as a result of the increased success of this methodology in European countries. In Latin America use of native natural enemies plays an important role in pest control and the procedure for development and implementation for biological control in protected cultivation should, therefore, not be based only on the importation and release of commercialized exotic natural enemies. Biological control can be developed making use of effective native natural enemies, or of those introduced a long time ago, and might be supplemented with exotic natural enemies for those pests where native biological control agents are ineffective. In Brazil, the reason for use of native agents is mainly due to concern about environmental risks of imported natural enemies and also because native or naturalized natural enemies are well adapted to local environmental conditions. In many countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Mexico, IPM and biological control programs are commercially used or are implemented in pilot greenhouses. Several successes of biological control programs used in Europe will be illustrated

Pest kill rate as aggregate evaluation criterion to rank biological control agents: a case study with Neotropical predators of Tuta absoluta on tomato

AbstractTuta absoluta (Meyrick), a key pest of tomato, is quickly spreading over the world and biological control is considered as one of the control options. Worldwide more than 160 species of natural enemies are associated with this pest, and an important challenge is to quickly find an effective biocontrol agent from this pool of candidate species. Evaluation criteria for control agents are presented, with the advantages they offer for separating potentially useful natural enemies from less promising ones. Next, an aggregate parameter for ranking agents is proposed: the pest kill rate km. We explain why the predator's intrinsic rate of increase cannot be used for comparing the control potential of predators or parasitoids, while km can be used to compare both types of natural enemies. As an example, kill rates for males, females and both sexes combined of three Neotropical mirid species (Campyloneuropsis infumatus (Carvalho), Engytatus varians (Distant) and Macrolophus basicornis (Stål)) were determined, taking all life-history data (developmental times, survival rates, total nymphal and adult predation, sex ratios and adult lifespan) into account. Based on the value for the intrinsic rate of increase (rm) for T. absoluta and for the kill rate km of the predators, we predict that all three predators are potentially able to control the pest, because their km values are all higher than the rm of the pest. Using only km values, we conclude that E. varians is the best candidate for control of T. absoluta on tomato, with C. infumatus ranking second and M. basicornis last

Biological control of pests in protected cultivation: implementation in Latin America and successes in Europe

The area with greenhouse crops is estimated to be around 40,000 hectares in Latin America, of which approximately 60% is occupied with ornamentals. Several pests are responsible for losses in yield or quality of greenhouse crops production and pest control is still mainly by chemicals. However, there are several stimuli for the adoption of biological control strategies as an IPM component, not only for the export market of products, but also for increased use of sustainable plant protection methods as a result of the increased success of this methodology in European countries. In Latin America use of native natural enemies plays an important role in pest control and the procedure for development and implementation for biological control in protected cultivation should, therefore, not be based only on the importation and release of commercialized exotic natural enemies. Biological control can be developed making use of effective native natural enemies, or of those introduced a long time ago, and might be supplemented with exotic natural enemies for those pests where native biological control agents are ineffective. In Brazil, the reason for use of native agents is mainly due to concern about environmental risks of imported natural enemies and also because native or naturalized natural enemies are well adapted to local environmental conditions. In many countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Mexico, IPM and biological control programs are commercially used or are implemented in pilot greenhouses. Several successes of biological control programs used in Europe will be illustrated

Augmentative biological control of arthropods in Latin America

Augmentative forms of biological control, where natural enemies are periodically introduced, are applied over large areas in various cropping systems in Latin America. About 25% of the world area under augmentative control is situated in this region. Well-known examples are the use of species of the egg parasitoid Trichogramma for management of Lepidoptera in various crops. In Mexico, for example, about 1.5 million hectares are treated with Trichogramma spp. Application of Trichogramma also occurs on large areas in Colombia and Cuba, but use is limited in other Latin American countries for economic reasons, the generally low level of education of farmers, and, more importantly, because of the intensive use of pesticides that prevents use of natural enemies. Of the other egg parasitoids, the main species used in commercial releases are Trissolcus basalis (Wollaston) against the heteropteran Nezara viridula (L.) in soybean in Brazil, and Telenomus remus Nixon against Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) in corn in Venezuela. Natural enemies attacking larval and pupal stages are not used to a large extent in augmentative biological control in field crops, with the exception of the use of Cotesia parasitoids against sugarcane borers in Brazil and several other Latin American countries. In addition to the use of parasitoids and predators, Latin America is applying microbial control agents on a large scale, such as viruses for control of caterpillars in soybean, fungi for control of pests in coffee, cotton and sugar cane, and nematodes for control of soil pests. A recent development in biological control in Latin America is the use of natural enemies and antagonists for disease and pest control in protected cultivation, for example, in Colombia, Brazil and Peru. Up to date, reliable figures on current use of inundative and seasonal inoculative biological control appeared hard to obtain, but it is clear that Latin America currently is a main player in the field of augmentative releases

Biological control in the remaining Caribbean islands

Biological control activities on 18 (groups of) Caribbean islands are summarized. Many natural enemies were introduced to these islands through Trinidad and Tobago up to 1980. Also, inter-island exchange of biocontrol agents took place. The majority of projects concerned classical biocontrol, while in some cases natural, conservation and augmentation biocontrol were used. Successes were obtained with biocontrol of pests in crops such as arrowroot, citrus, coconut, cotton and sugarcane and of weeds like prickly pear and puncture vine. After 1980, the number of natural enemy introductions decreased, though the region was faced with many invasions by exotic pests, including the citrus leaf miner, citrus blackfly, papaya mealybug, giant African snail, coconut whitefly and pink hibiscus mealybug. Two large region-wide programmes resulted in successful biocontrol of the pink hibiscus mealybug and the papaya mealybug. In addition, biocontrol by a native natural enemy complex was demonstrated for the coconut whitefly and the passion vine mealybug. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Code of Conduct for the Import and Release of Exotic Biological Control Agents has recently been applied in the region. Farmers Field Schools, with the aim to enable farmers to use IPM and become less dependent on chemical pesticides, are being implemented