2019/05/23 by Deogratias, Jean-Marie, Riaudel, Olivier, Bresch, Sophie +3
#Alternative methods #Biocontrol #Biocontrôle #IFT #Integrated pest management #Lutte intégrée #Lutte physique #Méthodes alternatives #Physical pest management #Phytosanitary product #Produit phytosanitaire #Treatment Frequency Index
paper · doi:10.15454/dadqoz
The Hortipot project aimed at significant pesticide reduction in ornamental plant productions has shown interesting and realistic opportunities for the ornamental sector in France on agronomical, economic and environmental level. Today it is feasible in ornamental plant production to obtain pesticide reduction levels of up to 50% without any compromise on product quality and profit margins. Many innovative techniques developed in this project are well received by the producers and certain techniques are already adopted in different production systems. Many pesticide treatments are related to insect pest control. The use of well performing beneficial natural enemies applied in defined dosages while simultaneously using insect refuges, alternative food sources and limited compatible chemicals, makealternative pest control approaches today economically competitive as compared to conventional chemical pest control. Mechanical plant stimulation is shown effective as a growth control measure and helps reduce the use of chemical plant growth regulators. This new growth control system is actually combined with an efficient mass insect trapping device using visual glue panels. Abiotic and biotic stress factors are equally taken into consideration in order to propose successful plant production systems. However, protected ornamental plant production characterized by an enormous plant species richness makes development of innovative solutions very complex. Therefore, it is necessary to continue developing and evaluating new biocontrol approaches in order to offer French ornamental horticulture means to significantly reduce and even, in some cases, abandon chemical pesticide use.