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Agronomy
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Preventative Pest Management in Food Crops: A Compilation of Success...
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Preventative Pest Management in Food Crops: A Compilation of Success Stories

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Pest and Disease Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 October 2023) | Viewed by 10569

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Kris Wyckhuys

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Chrysalis Consulting, Hanoi 100000, Vietnam
2. School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
3. China Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Interests: biological control; agroecology; IPM; biodiversity conservation; One Health

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

During this ‘Decade of Action’, food is fast becoming a defining issue. Sustainable food systems can effectively feed a swelling global population and simultaneously resolve some of the world’s most pressing development challenges. While a dietary shift towards (starchy) vegetables, fruits, nuts and pulses could curb greenhouse gas emissions or slow land-use change, their sustainable cultivation aids to preserve human and environmental health. As such, preventative pest management - the foundation of integrated pest management (IPM) - has become a central pivot of envisioned food systems transformations. Sanitary practices, behavior-modifying volatiles, ‘smart’ trapping devices or mechanical control are all being deployed to reduce pest numbers, avert crop losses and safeguard farmer incomes. Similarly, by harnessing on-farm biodiversity and tilting the ecological balance of farming systems (e.g., through multi-cropping, organic matter addition, conservation tillage, flower strips, or augmentative biological control), crop pests are kept at bay while agriculture’s environmental footprint is effectively mitigated. In this Special Issue, we aim to showcase progress in preventative pest management in food and horticultural production systems in eastern Asia and the Americas. A suite of (non-chemical) approaches is showcased through which food crops are being cultivated in a way that benefits farmers, consumers and the environment.

Given the pioneering work that you and your colleagues are conducting on preventative pest control and/or biological control, we hereby invite you to contribute to this Special Issue. We are particularly interested in receiving manuscripts that involve co-authors from several countries, that cover topics of regional/multi-country interest or that provide comprehensive reviews on specific subjects. Also, in addition to outlining the biophysical aspects of your work, we encourage you to elaborate on its broader societal relevance e.g., by emphasizing food safety aspects, socio-economic measures. We look forward to receiving your manuscript prior to 1 November 2022.

Prof. Dr. Kris Wyckhuys
Guest Editor

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. Agronomy 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

  • sustainable food systems
  • agroecology
  • resilience
  • farming systems
  • ecological intensification
  • cultural control
  • biological control
  • IPM

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 2014 KiB  
Article
Underestimated Damage Caused by the European Hazelnut Weevil, Curculio nucum (Curculionidae)
by Rachid Hamidi, Julien Toillon and Maud Thomas
Agronomy 2022, 12(12), 3059; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12123059 - 2 Dec 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4581
Abstract
Hazelnut is an important food resource for the larvae and adults of the hazelnut weevil, Curculio nucum. While wormy nuts reflect the impact of such weevils at harvest time, little is known about the other types of damage they cause. To establish a [...] Read more.
Hazelnut is an important food resource for the larvae and adults of the hazelnut weevil, Curculio nucum. While wormy nuts reflect the impact of such weevils at harvest time, little is known about the other types of damage they cause. To establish a comprehensive list of damages, and thereby identify the period of hazelnut vulnerability, male and female weevils were collected weekly and isolated on fruiting branches for 1 week. Based on nut development, higher rates of dropped nutlets, belted nuts, and blank nuts were observed at harvest. Marks specific to weevils, including wormy nuts, riddled shells, and larvae paths on the basal scar, were recorded during nut lignification. Belted nuts and blank nuts are empty nuts and constituted the main damage. The feeding activities of both the adults and larvae, but also the oviposition punctures, are likely to be the main causes of embryo abortions. The greatest damages occurred during kernel growth and when the shell had almost reached its final size. The larvae failed to penetrate fully lignified shells, with dead larvae mainly being found on the basal scar, the later softer part of the hazelnut. In Ségorbe cultivars, the dynamic of hazelnut development is the main factor involved in its susceptibility to C. nucum, with aborted nuts being the most underestimated damage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Preventative Pest Management in Food Crops: A Compilation of Success Stories)
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9 pages, 1757 KiB  
Article
Impact of Short-Term Atmospheric Heat Transfer on the Survival of Granary Weevil in Stored Winter Wheat
by Helga Lukács, Ferenc Pál-Fám, Éva Varga-Visi, Roman Rolbiecki, Attila Percze and Sándor Keszthelyi
Agronomy 2022, 12(6), 1313; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12061313 - 30 May 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1949
Abstract
The granary weevil Sitophilus granarius L. is a pest causing substantial damage to stored wheat worldwide, against which the elaboration of sustainable control methods has recently been gaining importance. Our objective was to assess the efficacy of a rapid atmospheric convection heat transfer [...] Read more.
The granary weevil Sitophilus granarius L. is a pest causing substantial damage to stored wheat worldwide, against which the elaboration of sustainable control methods has recently been gaining importance. Our objective was to assess the efficacy of a rapid atmospheric convection heat transfer method against S. granarius under laboratory conditions. We examined the changes in adult mortality and progeny survival triggered by heat and the effect of this on the quality parameters of treated wheat items. The insecticidal efficacy, achieved by the treatment of infested grains, was also analyzed at 37, 47, 67, 87, and 107 °C for 5, 6, and 7 min under 40% and 60% rh exposure to atmospheric heating with the progeny production assessed 45 days after the treatment. The quality parameters of the treated wheat were analyzed by a germination test and NIR grain analysis. Our findings showed that adequate eradication of S. granarius was obtained at 107 °C for 5 min of exposure under suboptimal (40% rh) relative humidity values. At 60% relative humidity, mortality averages were more dispersed, and efficacies above the expected 95% occurred over longer exposures. The progeny-suppression effect from short-term heating was affirmed. The atmospheric convection heat transfer method, under the applied temperature and exposure time combinations, did not induce detectable changes in the quality parameters or the germination ability of the treated wheat. Overall, our findings indicated that the use of short-term heating for the post-harvest protection of cereals is feasible, which may contribute to the realization of residuum-free pest management and provide an effective and sustainable technique in integrated pest management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Preventative Pest Management in Food Crops: A Compilation of Success Stories)
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15 pages, 3229 KiB  
Article
Influence of Canopy Cover and Meteorological Factors on the Abundance of Bark and Ambrosia Beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Avocado Orchards Affected by Laurel Wilt
by Octavio Menocal, Paul E. Kendra, Armando Padilla, Pollyana C. Chagas, Edvan A. Chagas, Jonathan H. Crane and Daniel Carrillo
Agronomy 2022, 12(3), 547; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12030547 - 22 Feb 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3179
Abstract
In the last decade in South Florida, approximately 200,000 avocado trees have succumbed to laurel wilt (LW), a fungal disease vectored by ambrosia beetles. Sanitation (e.g., pruning, stumping, and removal of LW–affected trees) and replanting with young trees are cultural practices currently used [...] Read more.
In the last decade in South Florida, approximately 200,000 avocado trees have succumbed to laurel wilt (LW), a fungal disease vectored by ambrosia beetles. Sanitation (e.g., pruning, stumping, and removal of LW–affected trees) and replanting with young trees are cultural practices currently used by avocado growers to reduce the incidence of LW. Surveillance in these managed orchards suggests a decline in ambrosia beetle abundance, and previous research determined that female flight activity is influenced by light intensity. Therefore, we investigated the effect of three canopy covers (i.e., full canopy, topworked, and new planting) on ambrosia beetle abundance. A total of 28,184 individuals, representing 15 species within Scolytinae and Platypodinae, were captured passively in three LW–affected avocado orchards over a one-year period. Full canopy cover exhibited the highest number of beetles and the lowest light intensity. The opposite was found for topworked and new planting covers. Additionally, we documented the effect of meteorological factors on the flight dispersal of five species known to vector the LW pathogen. The flight activity of Xylosandrus crassiusculus and Xyleborinus saxesenii was highly influenced by abiotic factors (R2 > 0.50), especially solar radiation, whereas the flight of Xyleborus affinis, Xyleborus volvulus, and Xyleborus bispinatus was only partially explained by climatic variables (0.20 < R2 < 0.30). Our results indicate that reducing canopy cover, thereby increasing light intensity, suppresses ambrosia beetle abundance, especially for species associated with the LW pathogen. Abiotic factors play a critical role in the dispersal of invasive species (X. crassiusculus and X. saxesenii), but their effect is less pronounced on native species (X. affinis, X. volvulus, and X. bispinatus). Canopy management alters the microclimatic conditions in avocado orchards, affecting ambrosia beetle abundance and flight activity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Preventative Pest Management in Food Crops: A Compilation of Success Stories)
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