Predatory Insect Release Program
Problem Statement
Pest insects are a limiting factor in vegetable production, and minor insect damages reduce crops value since the vegetable market demands unblemished clean produce. Therefore, organic growers require predatory insect release programs that will help them recognize the problem and exercise early control to prevent pest buildup.
The Current State of Research
Most research articles focus on biological management programs to control pest insects. Although chemical pest control is an option in vegetable production, most researchers are interested in evaluating programs that can biologically control pest insects in organic production. Most papers are field studies that include the actual introduction of predatory insects to manage the harmful pest, but a few are lab reviews.
Summary of research articles reviewed.
The first research article by Perez-Alvarez, Nault, & Poveda, involved a lab review of the augmentation program, which naturally controls pest insects. The technique involves releasing natural enemies to enhance the effectiveness of natural enemies (Perez-Alvarez, Nault, & Poveda, 2019). Depending on the number of pest insects and the extent of crop damage, periodic releases may be inoculate or inundate. The study suggests that the augmentative approach is by far the most effective method of biological pest control. Sampson’s article research involved the practical introduction of the predatory bug using the augmentative program in a strawberry field to control flower thrips (Sampson, 2018). The study implied that it is essential to address all major insect pests in a production system so that any control techniques are compatible with the biological control means. The article also outlines that it is important to secure the strategic and financial support of governmental and private sectors to ensure that the developed program is viable and sustainable.
The third research article by Rayl et al., 2018, outlines three primary methods of applying biological control in a production field. The three methods are; conservation of the existing natural enemies, the introduction of new natural enemies and establishing a classical biological control, and periodic release and mass rearing (Rayl et al., 2018). The study shows that each primary method has different implications and concludes that conserving the existing natural enemies forms strong pest control in vegetables. The fourth research article is a review of the IMP program and the biological control using coccinellid beetles. The research shows that the IMP program has been partially successful in managing a wide variety of pest insects on different crops (Ahmed & Majeed, 2016). The study concluded that the use of coccinellids beetles to control soft-bodied pests such as aphids and whiteflies proved to be more successful and is more environment-friendly, more effective, and has less harmful consequences to the non-target organisms.
The last article summarized the results of an experiment aimed to evaluate whether asylum flowers could act as biological agents of collard pests control. For the control experiment, collard was planted alone in the field, and for the treatment group, collard was intercropped with asylum. Weekly assessments of pests’ density and natural enemies for both the control and the treatment were conducted (Ribeiro & Gontijo, 2017). The results suggested that asylum flowers increased the number of natural enemies and predatory insects and significantly reduced the number of collard pests. The study’s conclusion was that strip intercropping of collards with asylum flowers is an essential strategy in the management of brassica pests.
Future Needs
Comprehensive research on the use of a specific predatory insect release program is required to address the existing research gaps. Specifically, detailed research involving a particular insect pest, a predatory insect, the primary approach used, and the study results should be conducted to assess the magnitude of specific predatory insects on the produce of a particular vegetable.
References
Ahmed, K. S., & Majeed, M. Z. (2016). Integrated pest management tactics and predatory coccinellids: A review.
Perez-Alvarez, R., Nault, B. A., & Poveda, K. (2019). The effectiveness of augmentative biological control depends on landscape context. Scientific reports, 9(1), 1-15.
Rayl, R. J., Shields, M. W., Tiwari, S., & Wratten, S. D. (2018). Conservation biological control of insect pests. In Sustainable Agriculture Reviews 28 (pp. 103-124). Springer, Cham.
Ribeiro, A. L., & Gontijo, L. M. (2017). Alyssum flowers promote biological control of collard pests. BioControl, 62(2), 185-196.
Sampson, C. (2018). Sustainable management of the western flower thrips in strawberry crops. Outlooks on Pest Management, 29(4), 180-184.