scholarly journals ALTERNATIVE MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES FOR ORCHARDS

HortScience ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 254f-255
Author(s):  
Warren C. Stiles

Concerns about the impacts of agricultural practices on the environment dictate that all management techniques must be examined from the perspective of minimizing such impacts. Integrated pest management practices such as scouting, use of biological controls, improvement of pesticide application techniques, tree-row-volume spraying, and consideration of the environmental impact of alternative chemical controls offer opportunity for minimizing the adverse impact of pesticides. Improved spray equipment with canopy sensors and spray recovery systems improve deposition and reduce pesticide waste. Applying nutrients on the basis of need as indicated by leaf and soil analyses offers the best means of assuring optimal crop performance and minimizing the potential for contamination of surface and ground water supplies. Soil management practices must be evaluated for their potential to minimize soil erosion and competition, and for their potential contribution to pest management. Ground covers that are nonsupportive of nematodes, disease, or insect pest populations merit additional research. Methods for managing ground covers with low rates of growth regulators or herbicides to minimize invasion by problem weeds, reduce the need for mowing, and regulate competition, while retaining their beneficial attributes in minimizing soil erosion and maintaining soil structure, would be advantageous to orchardists and the environment.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harmandeep Singh Chahal ◽  
Amanpreet Singh

Carbon emissions through various sources possess a great threat to the environment. An increase in carbon concentration in the atmosphere resulted in increased temperature. Escalating warmness in the environment started melting of glaciers, day by day water level in oceans also increasing at an alarming rate. Forests, oceans and agricultural soils act as a sink for atmospheric carbon. Sinking sites help in making the balance of various gases in the atmosphere. Managing agricultural soils provides a good opportunity for more carbon storage. Adoption of conservation tillage, incorporation or on surface management of crop residue and balanced fertilization helps in reducing carbon removal from soil. More organic matter means more humus formation and more carbon retention in soil. Such management practices not only boost soil carbon-storing capacity but also increase soil fertility through hiking nutrient availability to plants and microbial populations in the soil. Higher plant growth results in more assimilation of CO2 in the photosynthesis process.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tarekegn Fite ◽  
Tadele Tefera ◽  
Mulugeta Negeri ◽  
Mulugeta Negeri ◽  
Hirpa Legesse

Survey were undertaken in five zones of Oromiya and Amhara regional states, Ethiopia from February to March 2018 to investigate farmers’ status, knowledge, major chickpea production constraints and insect pest management practices of chickpea. The survey involved 293 randomly taken farmers, who are interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Chickpea insect pests were considered as the main, among production constraints of chickpea by most of the interviewed farmers in Ethiopia. The majority of the farmers’ responded that Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is the most prevalent insect pests of chickpea under field condition and Callosobruchus chinensis (L.) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) in storage. Development Agents (DAs) were the top pest advisory service providers in the current study. A conventional insecticide (namely; Lambda-cyhalotrin and Dimethoate) for the control of H. armigera was the most commonly used pest management methods. Moreover, Two times insecticide applications per cropping season were the most frequent, deployed by most of the interviewed farmers followed by cultural pest management practices. Use of biological control and resistant chickpea varieties against major insect pests were low to negligible in the current survey study in the area. The majority of the farmers began control decision when H. armigera larval stages were smaller and they did not consider larval number per chickpea plant for the decision. These results will be used to formulate future effective and sustainable integrated pest management (IPM) in chickpea for Ethiopian farmers emphasizing ecologically and economically-based approaches.


1990 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clement E. Ward ◽  
Alan K. Dowdy ◽  
Richard C. Berberet ◽  
Jimmie F. Stritzke

AbstractIntegrated pest management (IPM) initially focused on insect pest control. More recently, IPM encompasses a broader concept of management, one which crosses several disciplinary boundaries. This article reports results of research dealing with four integrated management decisions for alfalfa (cultivar selection, inset control, weed control, and end-of-season harvest options).


2010 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kamanula ◽  
Gudeta W. Sileshi ◽  
Steven R. Belmain ◽  
Phosiso Sola ◽  
Brighton M. Mvumi ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 117954331984032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seung-Joon Ahn ◽  
Kelly Donahue ◽  
Youngho Koh ◽  
Robert R. Martin ◽  
Man-Yeon Choi

RNA interference (RNAi) is a convenient tool to identify and characterize biological functions in organisms. Recently, it has become an alternative to chemical insecticides as a biologically based control agent. This promising technology has the potential to avoid many problems associated with conventional chemical insecticides. In order for RNAi application to be practical for field use, a major hurdle is the development of a cost-effective system of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) production for a large quantity of dsRNA. A handful of research reports has demonstrated microbial-based dsRNA production using L4440 vector and HT115 (DE3) Escherichia coli for application to vertebrate and invertebrate systems. However, the dsRNA yield, production efficiency, and biological purity from this in vitro system is still unclear. Thus, our study detailed biochemical and molecular tools for large-scale dsRNA production using the microbial system and investigated the production efficiency and yield of crude and purified dsRNAs. An unrelated insect gene, green fluorescent protein (GFP), and an insect neuropeptide gene, pyrokinin (PK) identified from Drosophila suzukii, were used to construct the recombinant L4440 to be expressed in the HT115 (DE3) cell. A considerable amount of dsRNA, 19.5 µg/mL of liquid culture, was isolated using ultrasonic disruption followed by phenol extraction. The sonication method was further evaluated to extract crude dsRNA without the additional phenol extraction and nuclease treatments and also to reduce potential bacterial viability. The results suggest that the ultrasonic method saved time and costs to isolate crude dsRNA directly from large volumes of cell culture without E coli contamination. We investigated whether the injection of PK dsRNA into flies resulted in increased adult mortality, but it was not statistically significant at 95% confidence level. In this study, the microbial-based dsRNA production has potential for applied RNAi technology to complement current insect pest management practices.


2020 ◽  
Vol 113 (2) ◽  
pp. 872-881
Author(s):  
John J Ternest ◽  
L L Ingwell ◽  
R E Foster ◽  
I Kaplan

Abstract In cucurbit crops such as watermelon, implementation of integrated pest management (IPM) is important due to the high reliance on bees for fruit set, along with mounting evidence of the risks of insecticide use associated with pollinator health. Yet, IPM adoption, on-farm pesticide use behaviors, their costs, and impacts on the primary insect pest (striped cucumber beetle, Acalymma vittatum F.) are poorly known in one of the key watermelon-growing regions, the Midwestern United States. To better understand how to implement IPM into watermelon production, we assessed pest management practices on commercial watermelon farms using 30 field sites in Indiana and Illinois over 2 yr in 2017 and 2018. Across all sampling dates, beetles never crossed the economic threshold of five beetles/plant at any farm and most were maintained at densities far below this level (i.e., <1 beetle/plant). Moreover, we documented a wide range of insecticide inputs (mean ca. 5 applications per field per season; max. 10 applications) that were largely dominated by inexpensive foliar pyrethroid sprays; however, insecticide application frequency was poorly correlated with pest counts, suggesting that most of these applications were unnecessary. We calculated that the cost of the average insecticide program far exceeds the cost of scouting, and thus IPM is estimated to save growers ca. $1,000 per field under average conditions (i.e., field size, insecticide cost). These data strongly indicate that current management practices on commercial farms in the Midwest would benefit from implementing more threshold-based IPM programs with potential increases in both farm profitability and pollination services.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther L Nampeera ◽  
Gail R Nonnecke ◽  
Sue L Blodgett ◽  
Sharon M Tusiime ◽  
Dorothy M Masinde ◽  
...  

Abstract Amaranth (Amaranthus L.) species are grown for their grain or leaves and contribute to farmers’ livelihoods and nutritional food security. Leafy amaranth (LA) is consumed widely as a vegetable in Kenya. An assessment of current farmers’ knowledge of pest management practices provides information about future educational needs. Six-hundred LA farmers were interviewed, focus group discussions with farmers, and interviews with key informants were completed in four Kenyan counties. The majority (71%) of survey respondents grew LA on less than 0.25 acre (<0.1 ha) and 59.2% were female. Constraints of LA production differed by counties surveyed. Farmers indicated insects and birds were important in Kiambu and Kisumu counties, whereas in Vihiga and Kisii, capital, markets, and land area for production were important. Farmers stated and ranked importance of the insects they observed during LA production. Eighty-seven percent stated aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae), as a major pest and 96.8% ranked aphids as the number-one insect pest of LA in all four counties. Two other pests of LA included cotton leafworm, Spodoptera littoralis (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) (0.8%) and spider mites, Tetranychus spp (Trombidiformes; Tetranychidae) (0.7%). Forty-two percent of all LA farmers managed aphids, with 34% using synthetic insecticides and 8% using nonsynthetic methods. Biological controls and host-plant resistance were not mentioned. Educational programs that train farmers about integrated pest management (IPM) in LA production are needed. Future research should determine successful IPM strategies for aphids on LA to reduce insecticide use and improve sustainability and nutritional food security for small-landholder farmers and consumers.


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