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Agronomy
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The Application of Functional Plants in Crop Protection and Biodiversity...
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The Application of Functional Plants in Crop Protection and Biodiversity Management

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2022) | Viewed by 10740

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Finbarr Horgan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
2. BHF Centre for Cardiovascular Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH16 4TJ, UK
3. EcoLaVerna Integral Restoration Ecology, Bridestown, Kildinan, Cork, Ireland
4. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales, Universidad Católica del Maule, Escuela de Agronomía, Casilla 7-D, Curicó, Chile
Interests: herbivory and herbivore ecology; insect ecology; pollinators; dung beetles; conservation; crop and grassland entomology; wildlife-friendly farming
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

The application of functional plants for crop protection and biodiversity management in cereal and horticultural crops has gained traction in recent decades. Research has accumulated to indicate the multiple benefits of flower and vegetable strips in cereal crops as barriers to herbivore movement, as repellents or trap crops for herbivores, or as refuges for the natural enemies of crop pests. Furthermore, flower strips and banker plants have been adopted by farmers and growers across a diversity of crop production systems to enhance the biological control of herbivore pests and to maintain or augment the diversity of pollinators and other beneficial arthropods. Because the technologies are relatively new, an understanding of the optimal temporal and spatial scales for arthropod-based crop protection and pollination services represents a continuing knowledge gap. This Special Issue will focus on agroecological studies that employ functional plants (e.g., banker plants, trap crops, alley crops, and flower strips) to enhance the beneficial ecosystem services provided by crop-associated fauna. The issue will present research that documents the impacts of implementations over multiple cropping seasons or at multiple sites, research that encompasses the effects on broader ecological communities, research that assesses farmers’ perceptions toward such implementations, or that includes a cost–benefit analysis of the implementations. Research can focus on any region or crop species (including cereals, grasslands, field and protected horticultural crops or fiber crops). Research conducted on commercial farms or plantations, and that addresses issues of scale is particularly welcome.

Dr. Finbarr Horgan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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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

  • ecological engineering
  • pollination
  • natural enemies
  • trap crops
  • alley cropping
  • volatiles
  • banker plants
  • farmer surveys
  • agroecology
  • landscape ecology

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 2463 KiB  
Article
Restoration of Rice Ecosystem Services: ‘Ecological Engineering for Pest Management’ Incentives and Practices in the Mekong Delta Region of Vietnam
by Finbarr G. Horgan, Quynh Vu, Enrique A. Mundaca and Eduardo Crisol-Martínez
Agronomy 2022, 12(5), 1042; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12051042 - 27 Apr 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3268
Abstract
Ecological engineering is an agroecological approach to pest management that has been adopted by thousands of rice farmers in the Mekong Delta Region of Vietnam. Farmers adopted the intervention as part of a heuristic approach to developing the technology. This study assesses the [...] Read more.
Ecological engineering is an agroecological approach to pest management that has been adopted by thousands of rice farmers in the Mekong Delta Region of Vietnam. Farmers adopted the intervention as part of a heuristic approach to developing the technology. This study assesses the knowledge, attitudes and practices related to ecological engineering among participating and non-participating farmers. Interviews with 315 farmers revealed a diversity of practices under the umbrella of ecological engineering, all of which were associated with the establishment of linear vegetation strips as habitat for natural enemies. As a restoring service from society to the rice ecosystem, ecological engineering incorporated significant positive-feedback loops, particularly regarding the production of supplementary foods (provisioning services) and the aesthetic value (cultural services) of planted rice bunds. Participating farmers reported fewer insecticide applications to their main rice crop; they applied insecticides at a later crop growth stage (protecting pest regulating services); and they reported higher rice yields. However, a high dependency on government support, the role of agrochemical extensionists in providing information, a tendency to apply pesticides to vegetation strips and little change in the appreciation of wildlife-related services all threaten the social sustainability of the intervention. We recommend greater attention to optimizing linear strips to not only support natural enemies but to also enhance supplementary farm incomes while reducing material and labor costs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Application of Functional Plants in Crop Protection and Biodiversity Management)
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11 pages, 884 KiB  
Article
The Host-Plant Origin Affects the Morphological Traits and the Reproductive Behavior of the Aphid Parasitoid Aphelinus mali
by Ainara Peñalver-Cruz, Bruno Jaloux and Blas Lavandero
Agronomy 2022, 12(1), 101; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12010101 - 31 Dec 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2021
Abstract
Diversifying agroecosystems through habitat management inside or outside production fields can provide alternative hosts and/or prey for natural enemies. In semi-natural habitats, parasitoids may find alternative host-plant complexes (HPC) that could allow their development when pest hosts are scarce in the field. However, [...] Read more.
Diversifying agroecosystems through habitat management inside or outside production fields can provide alternative hosts and/or prey for natural enemies. In semi-natural habitats, parasitoids may find alternative host-plant complexes (HPC) that could allow their development when pest hosts are scarce in the field. However, morphological and physiological differences between alternative and targeted HPCs could affect the preference and fitness of the parasitoids, possibly altering their efficacy in regulating pests. In the present study, we examined two Aphelinus mali parasitoid populations developing on Eriosoma lanigerum from two host plants (Malus domestica-apple trees and Pyracantha coccinea). We hypothesized that A. mali from both HPCs will show different life history traits and behaviors because primary and alternative host-plants are known to induce variations in parasitoid biological performance. Our findings indicate that A. mali originating from E. lanigerum on P. coccinea parasitized more aphids and are smaller than those originating from E. lanigerum on apple. Furthermore, these parasitoids did not significantly vary their ability to attack and oviposit apple E. lanigerum, suggesting that P. coccinea could function as a suitable banker plant for A. mali. We discuss the potential use of P. coccinea in conservation biological control of E. lanigerum in apple orchards. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Application of Functional Plants in Crop Protection and Biodiversity Management)
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19 pages, 2218 KiB  
Article
Providing Alternative Hosts and Nectar to Aphid Parasitoids in a Plum Orchard to Determine Resource Complementarity and Distance Range Effect on Biological Control
by Louise Lérault, Elsa Clavel, Cinthya M. Villegas, Nuri Cabrera, Bruno Jaloux, Manuel Plantegenest and Blas Lavandero
Agronomy 2022, 12(1), 77; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12010077 - 30 Dec 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2119
Abstract
There are many different practices that contribute to conservation biological control, but little is known about their complementarity. We tested the effects of providing food and alternative hosts to parasitoids by intercropping a plum orchard with companion plants. Oats and vetch were intercropped [...] Read more.
There are many different practices that contribute to conservation biological control, but little is known about their complementarity. We tested the effects of providing food and alternative hosts to parasitoids by intercropping a plum orchard with companion plants. Oats and vetch were intercropped into the orchard either as single-species (oats or vetch) or two-species (oats and vetch combined) intercrops within an inter-row. The trophic resources provided by these intercrops were assessed, along with the incidences of aphids and their parasitoids in plum trees. We found up to ten alternative host species provided by oats and vetch, and extrafloral nectar was available from the vetch and mixed strips. An effect of intercrop type and distance to plum trees was observed on aphid incidence during one sampling period. Parasitism rates in exclusion cages were affected by intercrop type, reaching almost 60% close to the mixed intercrop. However, no general tendency was observed upon whether oats, vetch or their mixture was associated with a lower incidence of aphids. We found no evidence that providing effective sources of food and alternative hosts for parasitoids increased aphid mortality in this study. The context-dependent efficiency of intercropping is discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Application of Functional Plants in Crop Protection and Biodiversity Management)
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Review

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28 pages, 2900 KiB  
Review
Prospects for Integrating Augmentative and Conservation Biological Control of Leaffolders and Stemborers in Rice
by Dirk Babendreier, Rui Tang and Finbarr G. Horgan
Agronomy 2022, 12(12), 2958; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12122958 - 25 Nov 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2519
Abstract
Possibilities to combine augmentative biological control using Trichogramma spp. egg parasitoids and conservation biological control through habitat manipulation, for the management of rice leaffolder and rice stemborer pests have received only cursory mention in the literature. We reviewed information on the use of [...] Read more.
Possibilities to combine augmentative biological control using Trichogramma spp. egg parasitoids and conservation biological control through habitat manipulation, for the management of rice leaffolder and rice stemborer pests have received only cursory mention in the literature. We reviewed information on the use of Trichogramma releases and on habitat manipulation to manage leaffolders and stemborers in rice. Stemborers have become a priority for biological control since the 1990s with research focusing mainly on Chilo suppressalis in China and Iran, Scirpophaga incertulas in South and Southeast Asia, and Chilo agamemnon in Egypt. In most cases, 100 K wasps (T. japonicum or T. chilonis) released over 30–100 release points ha−1 at least once during early crop stages, resulted in good control (>50% reduction in damage). Despite positive results accumulated over decades, larger scale releases in rice have only been conducted very recently. Research on conservation biological control of stemborers has focused on manipulating rice field habitat, particularly along rice bunds (levees). Several studies reported higher Trichogramma densities or greater egg parasitism in rice fields with flowering plants on bunds compared to control fields (without bund vegetation and usually with insecticides). These trends have mainly been attributed to nectar as a supplementary food for the adult wasps, although evidence for this mechanism is weak. Trap plants, such as vetiver grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides) attract ovipositing stemborers, but suppress larval development. Repellent and banker plants have not yet been identified for rice stemborers or leaffolders. We outline the opportunities and challenges for combining augmentative and conservation biological control of leaffolders and stemborers in rice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Application of Functional Plants in Crop Protection and Biodiversity Management)
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