Biocontrol in tomato, evaluating a predatory bed bug for pest control in Argentina

Published 2021년 11월 2일

Tridge summary

The article emphasizes the limitations of relying on pesticides for pest control in horticultural crops and advocates for an agroecological approach. It introduces the use of predatory bugs, specifically T. cucurbitaceus, as a biocontrol agent in argoecosystems, with particular success in tomato cultivation in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This species, found across Central and South America, is omnivorous and can survive on different hosts, showing resilience and adaptability in biological control strategies. Research from INTA highlights the potential of T. cucurbitaceus in argoecological pest management, noting the need for optimal establishment and release doses for effective control.

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Original content

Within the management of pests in horticultural crops, the approach that uses pesticides as the only control measure for most of the arthropod pests proved to be inefficient. For this reason, it is important to resort to a sanitary alternative framed in an agroecological approach, where a comprehensive approach to the agroecosystem, its structural components, functions and interactions is contemplated. In this sense, the so-called "predatory bugs", belonging to the Hemiptera order, within which the Miridae (míridae) family is found, present numerous species used in Europe and Canada as biocontrollers of arthropod pests of horticultural crops. These predators are characterized by being polyphagous, being able to exercise adequate control over numerous pests, in addition to whiteflies, in horticultural production under cover. In Argentina, María Eugenia Strassera, a specialist in biological pest control at the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area Agricultural Experiment Station (EEA AMBA) ...

Source: Chacra Magazine