Functional agrobiodiversity for pest control in apple

Functional agrobiodiversity (FAB) has been shown to - reduce pest damage - increase abundance and diversity of natural enemies - allow growers to reduce pesticide us

Functional agrobiodiversity –a novel approach to optimize pest control in fruit production

Fruit growers suffer great economic losses each year due to pest damage. The demand for organic produce is increasing along with the interest from growers to develop sustainable and more resilient production systems and over 20% of the apple production in Denmark is now organic. Available pest management options are limited and prevention is important for resilience. In the project PROTECFRUIT we test the use of functional agrobiodiversity, by promoting the abundance and diversity of natural enemies in ecological infrastructures using perennial, wild flower strips in organic orchards. Rosy apple aphid, Dysaphis plantaginea, infestation and damage, and predator abundance and diversity were assessed in organic orchards with flower strips and compared to organic orchards without flower strips. In orchards with flower strips these parameters were also assessed as a function of distance to flower strip. The methodology includes visual observations, beating samples and sentinel prey to estimate predation activity. Field trials were conducted in 2016 and will be repeated again in 2017. Preliminary results show that aphid infestation and fruit damage were less in orchards with flower strips than in control orchards

PRÆSENTATIONSHÅNDBOG MED ENKLE METODER TIL OPGØRELSE AF FUNKTIONEL BIODIVERSITET I ØKOLOGISKE FRUGTPLANTAGER

Purpose of the monitoring methods: Familiarize producers with the simplified observation of beneficials Raise the awareness of producers to the natural regulations that are occurring in their orchards Engage the adaptation of plant protection practices in order to optimize these regulations When possible, observe the effect on biological control of agroecological infrastructures implemented in the orchard over space and time The state of the art does not provide threshold values of natural enemies as decision support for immediate pest management measures as pesticide application Purpose of evaluation of monitoring techniques - Co-define the criteria that have to be met so that the methods can be used by the farmers and advisors - Refine the proposed protocols for the different methods : Determine the respective advantages and the flaws of monitoring methods and their protocols and refine the protocols accordingly - Bring out and build on the assessment of the farmers about the methods Method : Four monitoring methods have been selected by the EcoOrchard project after literature review and initial testing. Each producer in the EBIONET network is offered to choose one or more monitoring method among the four presented in this booklet and additional methods suggested by the stakeholders during the national workshops. The list with the additional methods are in the report of the workshop, the organizers should be available to provide protocols for these methods (for that purpose, it is possible to contact [put the name and contact of the national coordinator]). The producers and advisors will apply the method(s) in the orchards they work in. The purpose is to familiarize with the monitoring of the main beneficials and to evaluate how user-friendly the methods and instructions are. The method can be tested in several ways : By comparing the results of a monitoring nearby an agroecological infrastructure (AEI - e.g. a composite hedge, a flower strip, a water body, nest boxes etc) with the results of a control monitoring distant from any AEI (cf. figure below), In an orchard which is managed with an agroecological practice, like reduced mowing, In order to follow the temporal evolution of arthropods at key moments of the season, like the arrival or the peak of abundance of an insect (according to the life cycles of the aimed populations, cf. protocoles), To monitor the impact of a treatment on arthropods (observation before and after the treatment) The chosen method will be used according to a sampling plan described in the sheets below. If the methods are used to compare the presence of beneficials between two treatments (two separate zones of the same orchard or two different orchards), one being agroecological and the other being a control, it is important to make sure that the control is distant enough from any agroecological infrastructure that could confuse the result. Ideally the control should be at 50m distance of any AEI. Many factors impact the presence of insects in a plot (e.g. farming practices, landscape, variety and age of the trees), it is important to take this into account when comparing the results of monitoring that have been performed in different orchards

Nyt projekt om stribedyrkning og biodiversitet (StripCrop)

Indenfor de seneste årtier har der været en stigende interesse for samtidig dyrkning af flere afgrøder stribevis i en mark (stribedyrkning). StripCrop er et nyt dansk projekt, som beskæftiger sig med emnet. I artiklen introduceres projektet

Blomsterstriber giver flere nyttedyr i økologiske æbleplantager

Økologiske æbleavlere oplever ofte at store dele af høsten går tabt på grund af skadedyr. Flerårige blomsterstriber kan øge forekomsten af nyttedyr i plantagen og derved reducere skader

Flower strips increase the occurrence of predators in organic apple orchards

Organic apple orchards often suffer great yield losses due to pests. Perennial flower strips can increase the occurrence of predators in the orchard and thereby reduce fruit damage