Improving IPM of Specialty Crop Pests and Global Food Security—2nd Edition

A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 2400

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Center for Biological Control, College of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL 32307, USA
Interests: integrated pest management of invasive insects pests; identification and diagnosis; biological control; insect pest modeling and predictions; insect identification; insect detection; insect monitoring and management in specialty crops
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Southwest Florida Research and Education Center, University of Florida 2685 SR 29 North Immokalee, FL 34142, USA
Interests: entomology; biology; ecology; IPM; biological control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Insects, weeds, and diseases are posing ever-evolving challenges to global agriculture and food security. Indeed, due to the increasing global population, investments are being made around the world to improve and develop sound scientific approaches to sustain specialty crop production and provide continued food security in the face of these threats. Integrated pest management (IPM) is the practice of managing invasive and established pests in order to minimize pest injury by using methods that are safe for the environment, humans, and production systems. Globally, pest managers are committed to building upon their past successes to increase implementation of IPM in specialty crops (vegetables, fruits, and nut crops).

In recent decades, the most-commonly used method for pest management has been the direct application of agrochemicals. However, in response to environmental, economic, and other problems associated with over-reliance on synthetic chemicals, there has been an increasing drive towards the development and improvements of integrated pest management (IPM) strategies in specialty crops. Many IPM strategies are now well-developed under protected crop production settings. However, within the open fields in many situations, targeted success is yet to be achieved. This Special Issue will include original research articles and reviews by leading research entomologists, plant pathologists, weed control specialists, and associated experts. Articles will focus on the development, improvement, and implementation of IPM strategies against serious pests (both indigenous and invasive species) in specialty crops. Articles that outline the integration of effective IPM options for a given pest species and also the appropriate use of agrochemicals within the management strategies are particularly welcome.

Considering the success of our earlier Topical Collection, titled “Improving IPM of Specialty Crop Pests and Global Food Security” (19 papers were published in total), we are pleased to launch our second Special Issue, titled “Improving IPM of Specialty Crop Pests and Global Food Security—2nd Edition”, which is welcoming results from laboratory and field studies.

Dr. Muhammad Haseeb
Dr. Jawwad A. Qureshi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Insects is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • specialty crops
  • horticulture
  • integrated pest management
  • global population
  • food security

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 1099 KB  
Article
Biocontrol Potential of a Commercially Available Predator Rhyzobius lophanthae Blaisdell (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) Against Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Liviidae)
by Gabriel Rodrigo Rugno and Jawwad A. Qureshi
Insects 2025, 16(11), 1083; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects16111083 - 23 Oct 2025
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Abstract
Diaphorina citri Kuwayama is a key pest of citrus and insect vector of Huanglongbing (HLB), also known as citrus greening disease, causing significant losses in Florida and other regions. The naturally occurring effective ladybeetle predators and their impact on D. citri reduced from [...] Read more.
Diaphorina citri Kuwayama is a key pest of citrus and insect vector of Huanglongbing (HLB), also known as citrus greening disease, causing significant losses in Florida and other regions. The naturally occurring effective ladybeetle predators and their impact on D. citri reduced from years of insecticide use against this pest and are not available commercially. Additionally, most species are large-sized, while most eggs and neonates of D. citri are in hard-to-reach locations such as unopened leaves, which makes access difficult for them. We evaluated a commercially available small-sized predatory ladybeetle Rhyzobius lophanthae Blaisdell against D. citri immatures. A single adult consumed an average of 24.9 eggs and 8.7 first and second instar nymphs of D. citri within 24 h. Beetles exhibited Type II functional response against nymphs with an attack rate of 0.92 h−1 and a handling time of 0.08 h. Their consumption rate increased with nymphal density up to twenty per shoot. In the field test, beetles lived 10 days longer when confined with new shoots infested with D. citri immatures in a voile fabric sleeve cage in citrus trees every two days, versus seven days. In an open field release of R. lophanthae in a citrus orchard, these ladybeetles were found foraging in sentinel and neighboring trees infested with D. citri. The consumption rate of R. lophanthae on D. citri immatures and its survival in Florida orchards suggest its potential for biological control and Integrated Pest Management. Full article
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