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Sustainability
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Sustainable Use of Biocontrol Agents
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Sustainable Use of Biocontrol Agents

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2020) | Viewed by 7470

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Maria Pappas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural Development, School of Agricultural Sciences and Forestry, Democritus University of Thrace, Pantazidou 193, 68 200 Orestiada, Greece
Interests: ecology; biological control; IPM; herbivore-plant interactions; crop protection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. George Broufas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural Development, Democritus University of Thrace, 68200 Orestiada, Greece
Interests: biological control; spider mites; Phytoseiidae; lacewings; integrated pest management; day-degree phenological models; diapause; insect-plant interactions; side-effects of pesticides to nontarget organisms (arthropods)

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A major challenge of humankind is to feed the increasing human population in a sustainable manner. Herbivorous insects and mites can be highly destructive to crops, causing significant yield losses. The application of pesticides remains the most effective measure for their control, despite the strong worldwide demand for agricultural products with reduced load of chemicals. Biological control with predators and parasitoids is currently the most promising alternative to control arthropod pests in a sustainable manner, and is the most popular measure applied in organic farming and integrated pest management (IPM) programs.

Biological control with predators and parasitoids has been successfully applied in many crops against several pests, but natural enemies often face impediments to establishment in certain crops. These include the lack of prey/hosts and alternative food, such as pollen, nectar and honeydew, as well as the lack of oviposition sites and refugia. Furthermore, biocontrol agents can be adversely affected by certain plant traits such as glandular trichomes and other plant defense traits. In an IPM scheme, pesticides can also harm the released natural enemies, thus negatively impacting biological control.

In this Special Issue of Sustainability, we would like to include original research and review papers dealing with methods and strategies to overcome the establishment impediments of biocontrol agents that can be otherwise used to successfully control arthropod pests. We aim to summarize the existing knowledge and also highlight the key outcomes of the latest research.

Dr. Maria Pappas
Prof. Dr. George Broufas
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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

  • biological control
  • sustainable crop production
  • predators
  • parasitoids
  • refugia
  • pesticide side-effects
  • plant resistance
  • alternative food
  • push–pull strategies
  • attract-and-reward strategies
  • conservation biological control
  • integrated pest management
  • banker plants
  • insectary plants
  • cover crops
  • defense elicitors
  • synthetic plant volatiles

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1597 KiB  
Article
Suitability of Ornamental Pepper Cultivars as Banker Plants for the Establishment of Predatory Mite Amblyseius swirskii in Controlled Production
by Vivek Kumar, Cindy L. McKenzie, Pasco B. Avery and Lance S. Osborne
Sustainability 2020, 12(19), 8031; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12198031 - 29 Sep 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2931
Abstract
A banker plant system is a rearing and release method for biological control agents, and in recent years has gained serious attention among plant propagators for its use in regulating common greenhouse and nursery pests. In the current study, the suitability of four [...] Read more.
A banker plant system is a rearing and release method for biological control agents, and in recent years has gained serious attention among plant propagators for its use in regulating common greenhouse and nursery pests. In the current study, the suitability of four ornamental pepper (Capsicum annuum L.; Solanales: Solanaceae) banker plant candidates, Black Pearl (BP), Explosive Ember (EE), Masquerade (MA), Red Missile (RM), and a commercial pepper cultivar, Blitz (BL), were evaluated with three main objectives: (1) to assess host preference of three major arthropod pests of agricultural importance, Bemisia tabaci Gennadius, Polyphagotarsonemus latus Banks, and Frankliniella occidentalis Pergande among selected pepper cultivars; (2) to determine the susceptibility of plant cultivars to three different pests; and (3) to assess the effect of tuft domatia on the abundance of the predatory mite Amblyseius swirskii Athias–Henriot. In choice and no-choice assays, BL and BP were highly susceptible to P. latus with a moderately high damage rating index of >3.5/5; B. tabaci and F. occidentalis were abundant on BL and EE. A positive correlation was observed between the number of tuft domatia and the A. swirskii count. Although all ornamental pepper cultivars exhibited varying degrees of susceptibility to different arthropod pests, if used strategically, cultivars MA and RM can be used to develop a banker plant system and help reduce multiple pests in greenhouses or interiorscapes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Use of Biocontrol Agents)
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20 pages, 3197 KiB  
Article
“Predator-In-First”: A Preemptive Biological Control Strategy for Sustainable Management of Pepper Pests in Florida
by Vivek Kumar, Lucky Mehra, Cindy L. McKenzie and Lance S. Osborne
Sustainability 2020, 12(18), 7816; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187816 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3310
Abstract
The early establishment of a biocontrol agent in the production system, whether in the greenhouse, nursery, or field, is essential for the success of the biological control program, ensuring growers’ profitability. In an effort to develop a sustainable pest management solution for vegetable [...] Read more.
The early establishment of a biocontrol agent in the production system, whether in the greenhouse, nursery, or field, is essential for the success of the biological control program, ensuring growers’ profitability. In an effort to develop a sustainable pest management solution for vegetable growers in Florida, we explored the application of a preemptive biological control strategy, “Predator-In-First” (PIF), in regulating multiple pepper pests, Bemisia tabaci Gennadius, Frankliniella occidentalis Pergande, and Polyphagotarsonemus latus Banks under greenhouse and field conditions during different growing seasons. In these studies, two bell pepper cultivars (7039 and 7141) and the phytoseiid mite Amblyseius swirskii Athias–Henriot were used as a model system. Pepper seedlings (~8 week) of each cultivar were infested with varying rates of A. swirskii (20 or 40 mites/plant or one sachet/10 plant) and allowed to settle on plant hosts for a week before planting in pots or field beds. Results showed a comparative consistent performance of the treatment with the high rate of phytoseiids (40 mites/plant) in regulating B. tabaci and F. occidentalis populations in greenhouse studies, and B. tabaci and P. latus pests under field conditions. During two fall field seasons, higher marketable yields of 12.8% and 20.1% in cultivar 7039, and 24.3% and 39.5% in cultivar 7141 were observed in the treatment with the high rate of phytoseiids compared to the untreated control, indicating yield benefits of the approach. The outcome of the study is encouraging and demonstrates that PIF can be an important tool for organic vegetable growers and a potential alternative to chemical-based conventional pest management strategies. The advantages and limitations of the PIF approach in Florida pepper production are discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Use of Biocontrol Agents)
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