Economic contributions of pest management to agricultural development

Abstract

The transformation of traditional agriculture to agricultural systems which foster growth and development requires the availability of improved crop production and crop protection inputs, as well as the skills to safely and effectively utilize these inputs. The typical progression of agricultural development involves an initial focus on increasing crop yields, with pest management as a secondary consideration and the safety and health aspects of agricultural practices as tertiary considerations. This common hierarchy can lead to inefficiencies because of the close interrelatedness of crop production and crop protection in determining the profitability and stability of new agricultural systems. This article outlines the advantages of simultaneous rather than sequential address of crop production, protection, and safety in agricultural development.     

Integrated crop management, the basis for environment friendly crop protection of potatoes

Relatively large amounts of pesticides are needed to control diseases and pests in modern, intensive potato production. Integrated crop management offers a way of reducing the need for pesticides. It aims to reduce costs and improve the quality of the product and of the production methods, while maintaining soil fertility and the quality of the environment. The components of integrated crop management are described. Prevention of diseases and pests has high priority. If diseases or pests are present, non-chemical control methods are preferred and chemical control is based on economic criteria and the monitoring of the soil and crops. The contribution of integrated crop management to the control of two important fungal diseases, late blight (Phytophthora infestans), and stem canker (Rhizoctonia solani) and of one pest, potato cyst nematode (Globodera spp..) is described. The prospects for further development of integrated crop protection are discussed.     

农药环境影响指数(EIQ)在农作物病虫害防治工作中的应用

贯彻绿色植保理念,必须科学地监测和最大限度地减少农药对人类健康和生态环境的负面影响。本文介绍了农药环境影响指数(EIQ),讨论了其在农作物病虫害防治工作中应用与局限性。     

Systems approaches in epidemiology and plant disease management

This contribution to Zadoks’ liber amicorum reviews the developments in quantitative epidemiology during the last decades. It elucidates the progress in this field and shows how empirical crop protection with many phenomenological aspects transformed into a science-based (inter) discipline.The availability of experimental tools and the rapid development and introduction of computers enabled the application of systems approaches which stimulated a revolution in thinking and caused a considerable improvement of strategic and tactical decision making in crop protection. Zadoks played a crucial role in that development.     

Removing constraints to sustainable food production: new ways to exploit secondary metabolism from companion planting and GM

The entire process of agricultural and horticultural food production is unsustainable as practiced by current highly intensive industrial systems. Energy consumption is particularly intensive for cultivation, and for fertilizer production and its incorporation into soil. Provision of nitrogen contributes a major source of the greenhouse gas, N₂O. All losses due to pests, diseases and weeds are of food for which the carbon footprint has already been committed and so crop protection becomes an even greater concern. The rapidly increasing global need for food and the aggravation of associated problems by the effects of climate change create a need for new and sustainable crop protection. The overall requirement for sustainability is to remove seasonal inputs, and consequently all crop protection will need to be delivered via the seed or other planting material. Although genetic modification (GM) has transformed the prospects of sustainable crop protection, considerably more development is essential for the realisation of the full potential of GM and thereby consumer acceptability. Secondary plant metabolism offers wider and perhaps more robust new crop protection via GM and can be accomplished without associated yield loss because of the low level of photosynthate diverted for plant defence by secondary metabolism. Toxic mechanisms can continue to be targeted but exploiting non‐toxic regulatory and signalling mechanisms should be the ultimate objective. There are many problems facing these proposals, both technical and social, and these are discussed but it is certainly not possible to stay where we are in terms of sustainability. The evidence for success is mounting and the technical opportunities from secondary plant metabolism are discussed here. © 2019 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.     

世界农药发展趋势及重点专利农药潜力分析(一)

阐述了近年世界农药的发展趋势。化学农药仍然是全球植物保护的主体;生物农药前景看好;全球转基因作物(GMC)持续发展,不断改变世界农药市场格局;种子处理剂已成为当今农药开发的重点之一;世界农药市场继续高度集中、垄断。重点介绍了16个重点专利农药的发展潜力。     

Review: Resistance as a concomitant of modern crop protection

This paper reviews the impact of resistance to fungicides and insecticides/acaricides on the way crop protection is practised. It is now clear that resistance can develop to virtually any crop-protection product, in any pest, fungal pathogen or even weed. As a limiting factor in crop protection, it is a fact of life. A positive side-effect is the precision with which products are used today, with increasing implementation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programmes. This is a vital step towards sustainability. This paper describes: past experiences; current status of resistance; how resistance management influences current crop protection practices; regulatory aspects; and the outlook for the future. It concludes that EU regulations on resistance management must be simple and workable. Chemicals will continue to have a central role in optimising yields from the world's crops, as new tools, including biotechnology, become available for crop protection and resistance management. The crop-protection industry's innovations and product stewardship programmes will contribute to sustainable agriculture. This will provide continued benefits to users, the environment and society. ©1997 SCI     

Metabolomics - A robust bioanalytical approach for the discovery of the modes-of-action of pesticides: A review

The agrochemical industry is facing great undertaking that includes increasing demand for the development of new crop protection agents that are safe for the environment and the consumers, and at the same time combat the issue of the emergence of resistance pest strains. The mode-of-action (MoA) is among the features of a bioactive compound that largely determine whether the abovementioned issues are addressed or not, and subsequently whether its commercial development will be addressed. The early discovery of the MoA of bioactive compounds could accelerate pesticide research and development by reducing the required time and costs. Based on advances in synthetic and natural product chemistry, scientists have access to a vast number of compounds that could potentially be developed as crop protection agents. The screening of such compounds with respect to their MoA requires accurate and robust bioanalytical tools. Metabolomics is a powerful bioanalytical tool that will likely play a significant role in the acceleration of the discovery of MoA of bioactive compounds. In the present review, the capabilities and principles and applications of metabolomics for the study of the MoA of herbicides, insecticides, acaricides, fungicides, and antibiotics are discussed.     

Integrated management of insect pests,diseases and weeds of cotton in Africa

Integrated pest management systems were developed originally in response to the appearance of insect populations with resistance to common insecticides. Cotton with its heavy dependence on insecticidal sprays was one of the first crops in which the effectiveness of control declined due to resistance in the target pests. Although insecticide resistance is more of a problem in large scale production systems, the IPM approach can also benefit the smallholder by reducing the number of sprays required with consequent cost savings. Where crop growth is adversely affected by diseases, competition from weeds or poor management, the full benefit of insecticide spray programmes cannot be realised. To be fully effective, insect control should therefore be integrated with other crop protection activities. This paper reviews the insect pests, diseases and weed problems of cotton in Africa and discusses the possibilities for extending the principles of IPM to cover all the crop protection activities with practical examples drawn from both small scale and larger scale production systems.     

Effects of fertilization on pests and diseses

The aim of integrated farming systems research is to develop sustainable farming systems from an economic, technical and environmental point of view. Strategies for crop rotation, crop protection and fertilization are briefly discussed in relation to potato production. The effects of different levels of fertilization on the incidence of some pests and diseases of potatoes are discussed in more detail, based on a literature study. Some results of potato production on the three farms for integrated arable farming in the Netherlands are also presented.     

六十年防治病虫保驾护航 新时代追求卓越再创辉煌

植物保护是保障粮食安全、生态安全与社会安全的关键。中国是一个农业古国与农业大国，其原始农业有着近万年的悠久历史；中国的植物保护有着古代的辉煌、近代的衰落与现代的崛起。新中国成立以来，特别是改革开放以来，中国的植物保护事业取得了辉煌成就，建立健全了高效的植物保护教学、科研与推广体系，消灭了千年的蝗灾，成功地控制了黏虫Mythimna seperata、棉铃虫Helicoverpa armigera、水稻螟虫、小麦黑穗病和条锈病等重大农作物病虫害的暴发，保障了我国的粮食安全与农业安全；并在农作物重大病虫害的智能监测、成灾机理及可持续控制原理与防控技术集成等方面取得了一批国际先进水平的成果。2022年是《植物保护学报》创刊60周年，为回顾过去、展望未来而筹划了本辑，由中外147位作者从不同方向综述了植物保护主要领域的研究进展与展望。希望本辑的出版能够促进我国植物保护知识的传播、推动我国植物保护学科的发展，为我国农业可持续发展和实现乡村振兴做出更大的贡献。     

Systems Analysis Applied to Crop Protection1)

This paper reviews the biological problem of crop protection from a systems analysis point of view, and discusses the commonalities in the biological and mathematical form of the population models used to describe the interactions between trophic levels (e.g. herbivore–plant). The historical development of the mathematical models is presented. The uses of these models in crop production are discussed.     

Structure and organization of warning services in Rheinland‐Pfalz (Germany)*

Rheinland‐Pfalz, a federal state in the south‐western part of Germany, is an agricultural region with high crop diversity. For each branch of agriculture (arable, fruits, vegetables and ornamental plants), specific warning and information services have been installed. Advisory work, including warning services, is done by a central (LPP) and eight regional state institutions (SL V As). LPP provides the infrastructure for information dissemination, organizes data acquisition and supplies the farmers with general information on crop protection (availability of plant protection products, control strategies, etc.), SL V As collect data on current pest development and elaborate regional recommendations on field assessments and control measures to be taken by the farmers. Warning service information is transmitted to the farmers by info post (periodic letters), telephone‐answering machines, fax services and, lately, via the Internet. Farmers are mainly interested in current disease and pest severity data, preferably on a local basis, to aid their decision‐making in crop protection. The forecasting models and computer‐aided decision‐support systems run by the state crop protection service have become essential tools during the last four years. Their results, supplemented by field‐monitoring data, serve as the main input for the warning services. The Internet, in conjunction with computerized decision‐support systems, provides the means of ensuring an adequate supply of warning service information at a time when crop protection services are undergoing severe staff reductions.     

世界农药发展趋势及重点专利农药潜力分析(二)

阐述了近年世界农药的发展趋势。化学农药仍然是全球植物保护的主体;生物农药前景看好;全球转基因作物(GMC)持续发展,不断改变世界农药市场格局;种子处理剂已成为当今农药开发的重点之一;世界农药市场继续高度集中、垄断。重点介绍了16个重点专利农药的发展潜力。     

Control of crop diseases through Integrated Crop Management to deliver climate-smart farming systems for low- and high-input crop production

Crop diseases affect crop yield and quality and cause significant losses of total food production worldwide. With the ever-increasing world population and decreasing land and water resources, there is a need not only to produce more food but also to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to mitigate climate change and avoid land use change and biodiversity loss. Thus, alternative climate-smart farming systems need to adapt to produce more food per hectare in a more sustainable way than conventional high-input farming systems. In addition to breeding new high-yielding cultivars adapted to future climates, there is a need to deploy Integrated Crop Management (ICM) strategies, relying less on synthetic inputs for fertilization and crop protection and less on fossil fuel-powered machinery to decrease yield losses due to pest and pathogens and guarantee food security. In this review, we compare some low-input farming systems to conventional agricultural systems with a focus on ICM solutions being developed to reduce synthetic inputs; these include crop genetic resistance to pathogens, intercropping, canopy architecture manipulation, and crop rotation. These techniques have potential to decrease crop disease frequency and severity by decreasing amounts and dispersal of pathogen inoculum and by producing microclimates that are less favourable for pathogen development, while decreasing GHG emissions and improving environmental sustainability. More research is needed to determine the best deployment of these ICM strategies in various cropping systems to maximize yield, crop protection, and other ecosystem services to address trade-offs between climate change and food security.     

农作物病虫害绿色防控技术应用概况

自2006年全国植保工作会上提出“公共植保、绿色植保”理念以来,我国农作物病虫害绿色防控技术的研发与应用取得了显著成效。据2009年底初步统计,各种绿色防控技术应用面积累计达5 100万hm2次,约占全国农作物病虫害防治总面积的10.4%。本文就当前生产上主要的物理诱控、昆虫信息素诱控、天敌昆虫、生物农药、农用抗生素、驱避剂、生态控制等绿色防控技术应用情况进行了概述,并提出了绿色防控技术推广应用的建议。     

阴山北麓旱作区主要作物热能值及结构调整研究

阴山北麓农牧交错地带,气候干旱冷凉,种植结构单一,生产能力低而不稳。农业生产不仅要考虑作物综合生产能力,同时要考虑其水分消耗数量。作物的热能产值反映了其综合生产能力。文中采用能值研究方法,通过田间试验、实验室分析测试对该地区三年主要作物的热能产值、耗水量及其生物产量和经济效益进行了系统研究,结果表明,当地主要作物的热能值大小依次为:向日葵>玉米>马铃薯>草玉米>草谷子>草莜麦>油菜>莜麦>小麦>胡麻>箭筈碗豆>山黧豆。考虑到热能值、生物产量、经济效益和水分生产能力,该地区种植结构调整首先应考虑马铃薯的种植,其次是向日葵,然后是饲草和杂粮。优化作物布局,可以获得作物综合生产能力和环境资源保护的双赢,能够促进资源合理利用与农牧业的可持续发展。     

Phosphite compounds reduce disease severity in potato seed tubers and foliage

Phosphites (Phi) are alkali metal salts of phosphorous acid, with the ability to protect plants against different pathogens. In this research, the effect of Phi applied to potato plants on severity of three important potato diseases in Argentina was assessed. Seed tubers and foliage of potato cvs Shepody and Kennebec were treated with Phi to assess effects on resistance against Phytophthora infestans, Fusarium solani and Rhizoctonia solani. Protection resulting from Phi treatment in seed tubers was high against P. infestans, intermediate against F. solani, and low against R. solani. In addition, seed tubers treated with calcium or potassium phosphites (CaPhi and KPhi, respectively) at 1% of commercial product emerged earlier than untreated ones. When Phi were foliarly applied two or four times at different doses, high levels of protection against P. infestans were achieved in both cultivars. Higher protection was observed in Kennebec when CaPhi was applied, while in Shepody this was true for KPhi. Expression of β-1,3-glucanases was induced at different times after treatment but no correlation between β-1,3-glucanases expression and foliar protection level was found. On the other hand, Phi positive protection effects did not produce negative effects in plant growth. Leaves from CaPhi-treated plants showed a darker green colour than leaves from control plants; also an increase in Rubisco protein and a delay in crop senescence was observed.     

正确认识化学农药的问题

针对当前我国农药使用中存在的一些主要问题作了详细地分析,其中有些属于基本概念,应须统一认识,但很多属于农药使用中实际操作如何规范化的问题。文中提出了解决问题的一些建议和措施。     

Sensorik für einen präzisierten Pflanzenschutz

Precision agriculture is a management concept depending on information technologies related to within-field variability. Site-specific plant production requires the use of technologies, such as global positioning systems, sensors, and information management tools to assess variations in soil, crop canopy and micro-climate. Crop protection is an important production factor, which at present is applied in high-input cropping systems homogeneously in the field despite of site-specific heterogeneity in the incidence and distribution of weeds, pests and pathogens. The spatial and temporal heterogeneity of pests in the field is assessed using remote sensing techniques linked to global positioning systems. The generation and management of information on pest incidence with high spatial resolution and its conversion into precise control systems will enable a targeted and resource-preserving integrated pest management system under high productivity conditions, which is economically successful, environmentally sound and socially acceptable. The recording of disease-related weather data and the assessment of spatial heterogeneity of micro-climate in the field as well as the detection of disease specific symptoms with remote and near range sensors (multispectral and hyperspectral cameras, thermography, chlorophyll fluorescence etc.) have the potential to make crop protection more precise in space and time. Innovative approaches are discussed in detail.