5 research outputs found
OLAP Analysis of Integrated Pest Management’s Defense Rules: Application to Olive Crop in Apulia Region
The Agri-Food sector is facing global challenges. The first concerns feeding a world population that in 2050, according to UN projections, will reach 9.3 billion people. The second challenge is the request by consumers for high quality products obtained by more sustainable, safely and clear agri-food chains. The Integrated Pest Management (IPM) could be an important instrument to help farmers to face these challenges. The IPM requires the simultaneous use of different crop protection techniques for the control of pests through an ecological and economic approach. This work explores the possibility to develop a framework that combines the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) with the IPM principles, in order to support the farmers in the decisional process, improving environmental and production performances. The proposed ICT tool is On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP), which allows performing analysis in the domain of time and space verifying for a single farm the respect of the IPM technical specifications
Is a mango just a mango? Testing within-fruit oviposition site choice and larval performance of a highly polyphagous fruit fly
For fruit flies, fully ripe fruit is preferred for adult oviposition and is superior for offspring performance over unripe or ripening fruit. Because not all parts of a single fruit ripen simultaneously, the opportunity exists for adult fruit flies to selectively choose riper parts of a fruit for oviposition and such selection, if it occurs, could positively influence offspring performance. Such fine scale host variation is rarely considered in fruit fly ecology, however, especially for polyphagous species which are, by definition, considered to be generalist host users. Here we study the adult oviposition preference/larval performance relationship of the Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae), a highly polyphagous pest species, at the “within-fruit” level to see if such a host use pattern occurs. We recorded the number of oviposition attempts that female flies made into three fruit portions (top, middle and bottom), and larval behavior and development within different fruit portions for ripening (color change) and fully-ripe mango, Mangifera indica L. (Anacardiaceae). Results indicate that female B. dorsalis do not oviposit uniformly across a mango fruit, but lay most often in the top (i.e., stalk end) of fruit and least in the bottom portion, regardless of ripening stage. There was no evidence of larval feeding site preference or performance (development time, pupal weight, percent pupation) being influenced by fruit portion, within or across the fruit ripening stages. There was, however, a very significant effect on adult emergence rate from pupae, with adult emergence rate from pupae from the bottom of ripening mango being approximately only 50% of the adult emergence rate from the top of ripening fruit, or from both the top and bottom of fully-ripe fruit. Differences in mechanical (firmness) and chemical (total soluble solids, titratable acidity, total non-structural carbohydrates) traits between different fruit portions were correlated with adult fruit utilisation. Our results support a positive adult preference/offspring performance relationship at within-fruit level for B. dorsalis. The fine level of host discrimination exhibited by B. dorsalis is at odds with the general perception that, as a polyphagous herbivore, the fly should show very little discrimination in its host use behavior