Experiences of Integrated Disease Management of Crops

Dear Colleagues,

The need to improve agricultural sustainability to secure yields, minimize environmental impacts, and limit the impact of environmental change is widely recognized. A major challenge in all agricultural systems is the management of weed, disease, and insect pests. Conventional systems have demonstrated their limits, primarily through pesticides that leave production systems vulnerable to the development of pest resistance to these chemicals or traits, and secondly through the use of resistance cultivars which, when their deployment is not well managed, leads to overcoming and the emergence of new virulent strains. This statement implies anticipating and better controlling pest risk by acting at different levels of the epidemic processes. Indeed, to better control pests, different parameters need to be considered, including inoculum sources or pest reservoirs and canopy conductivity, but also pest survival strategies. Integrated pest management is characterized by an emphasis on preventive, not curative, measures, and the long-term goal to “amplify agro-ecological system resilience” by developing on-farm management approaches rather than purchasing external products. It can be summarized as a systems approach that incorporates plant-based resistance, farm-scale cultural practices, or crop-targeted intervention with biological, mechanical, or natural control agents. This Special Issue aims to emphasize the new IPM strategies developed to reduce pest impact on crop production. This Special Issue will include seven topics:

• Disease monitoring systems and disease strategy adaptation;
• Soil health, potentiation of plants, and disease control;
• Biocontrol strategies’ combination;
• Field design and system approach to improve the control of disease;
• Mobilization of the biology of pathogens to develop innovative strategies;
• Simultaneous management of disease complexes;
• Climate change, disease emergence, and effectiveness of IPM methods.

Dr. Christophe Le May
Dr. Florence Val
Dr. Anne Le Ralec
Guest Editors

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• cultural practices
• biocontrol
• ecosystemic services
• cultivars resistance
• monitoring
• disease complex