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Layout of organic apple orchard showing varieties, treatments, and replicated plots, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva.
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Organic apple production in the eastern US is small and is mostly based on existing varieties, which are susceptible to scab, and rootstocks, which are susceptible to fire blight. This requires numerous sprays per year of various pesticides to produce acceptable fruit. From 2014 to 2016, we tested different arthropod, disease and weed management pr...
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Context 1
... orchard was planted in the spring of 2012 and consists of a 1-ha (2400 trees) organic apple orchard containing replicated plots of nine disease-resistant varieties on two disease-resistant Geneva ® rootstocks: Pristine, Williams Pride, NovaEasygro, Crimson Crisp, Juliet, Modi, Topaz, Goldrush, and CC1009; the rootstocks used are G.202 and G.935. The plot was planted in a modern high-density tall spindle orchard system at a spacing of 0.9 × 3.7 m, giving a planting density of 2990 trees/ha (Figure 1). Trees have been trained as a slender fruiting wall. ...
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... foliar nutrients or field-applied fertilizers were used during this study, and the site was not irrigated. Different arthropod and disease management regimens compared three treatment levels, set up in three replicates of 3-row plots (Figure 1: Layout of organic apple orchard showing varieties, treatments, and replicated plots, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva.): ...
Citations
... Consequently, arthropod responses to habitat management are inconsistent (Begg et al., 2017;Shackelford et al., 2013) and often do not result in successful pest control (Chaplin-Kramer et al., 2011;Marko et al., 2013). Sometimes they even lead to higher pest infestations (Tscharntke et al., 2016), which negatively affect fruit quality (Agnello et al., 2017;Letourneau et al., 2011) and quantity (Letourneau et al., 2011;Samnegard et al., 2019). Moreover, the outputs of studies are often casespecific, and it is difficult to translate them to other agroecosystems (Landis et al., 2000;Schellhorn et al., 2015;Winkler et al., 2017). ...
... In our analysis, only the extensification of apple orchard management resulted in a significant reduction in fruit quality, while the other CBC measures did not affect this variable. Since all extensification data were based on fruit damage, this could be due to the more intensive use of insecticides in the control plots of the studies considered (e.g., Agnello et al., 2017;Samnegard et al., 2019), contributing to the lower fruit damage by pest insects. Data on flowering components also included fruit diameter, weight, and size as fruit quality measures. ...
In recent decades, agricultural intensification has led to a loss of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services such as natural pest control. Conservation biological control addresses this problem by generally extensifying farming and/or providing alternative habitats and food sources for natural enemies of pest species. However, farmers implement conservation biological control sparingly, in part because of the confusing variety of measures with inconsistent effects. To shed some light on the effectiveness of conservation biological control measures in apple production, we conducted four meta-analyses to identify patterns of local measures on (i) insect pest abundance, (ii) natural enemy abundance, (iii) biological control, and (iv) fruit quality. Across the 54 studies, we found an overall significant, positive effect of local interventions on natural enemy abundance. Among our established intervention categories (flowers, ground cover, extensification), ground covers promoted natural enemies the most and tended to reduce pest insects. Likewise, providing flowers promoted natural enemies without affecting fruit quality. In contrast, extensification of orchard management alone, such as reducing agrochemical use and/or less disturbance, had no significant effect on the abundance of natural enemies, but showed a tendency to increase populations of pest insects and reduce fruit quality. Our results demonstrate that more floral resources and ground covers in apple orchards can reduce pesticide use while maintaining fruit quality.
... In addition, white clover harbors few beneficial insects in comparison with annual clovers (Trifolium spp.) and vetches (Vicia spp.) [33]. In organic apple orchards, although most impacts were positive, there was more damage to fruit from apple scab (Venturia inaequalis) (Figure 3c) in plots with wildflower alleyways than in crops where 'weeds' were controlled by mechanical disking [189]. ...
Integrated pest management (IPM) has been practiced by the fruit industry for at least 30 years. Naturally occurring beneficial insects have been encouraged to thrive alongside introduced predatory insects. However, Conservation Biological Control (CBC) and augmented biocontrol through the release of large numbers of natural enemies is normally only widely adopted when a pest has become resistant to available conventional pesticides and control has begun to break down. In addition, the incorporation of wild pollinator management, essential to fruit production, has, in the past, not been a priority but is now increasingly recognized through integrated pest and pollinator management (IPPM). This review focuses on the impacts on pest regulation and pollination services in fruit crops through the delivery of natural enemies and pollinating insects by provisioning areas of fruiting crops with floral resources. Most of the studies in this review highlighted beneficial or benign impacts of floral resource prevision to fruit crops. However, placement in the landscape and spill-over of beneficial arthropods into the crop can be influential and limiting. This review also highlights the need for longer-term ecological studies to understand the impacts of changing arthropod communities over time and the opportunity to tailor wildflower mixes to specific crops for increased pest control and pollination benefits, ultimately impacting fruit growers bottom-line with less reliance on pesticides.
... Although the state produced over 42.6 million kilograms of apples in 2017 [1], the rising costs associated with preventing pest related problems have threatened the value of many West Virginia apples. In the Northeastern United States, apple growers may contend with more than 50 direct and indirect arthropod pests, and 20 plant diseases [2]. Because of favorable pest conditions in West Virginia and elsewhere in the Northeast, commercial apple orchards must be intensively managed, often with frequent pesticide applications. ...
Bagging fruit with plastic, paper, and two-layer commercial bags was evaluated for control of insect pests and diseases in an experimental apple orchard planted with ‘Red Delicious’ trees. Results from fruit damage evaluations at harvest showed that bagging significantly reduced fruit damage from direct apple pests compared with non-bagged control plots, and generally provided similar levels of fruit protection when compared with a conventional pesticide spray program. Of the three bagging materials evaluated, plastic bags provided numerically higher levels of fruit protection from insect pests, and two-layer commercial bags provided numerically higher levels of fruit protection from fruit diseases. Fruit quality as measured by percentage Brix was higher in non-bagged control plots than all other treatment plots. Fruit quality as measured by fruit diameter was not significantly different among treatments. Plastic and two-layer commercial bags generally required less time to secure around apple fruit than paper bags. The proportion of bags that remained on fruit until harvest ranged from 0.54–0.71 (commercial bags), 0.64–0.82 (plastic bags), and 0.32–0.60 (paper bags), depending on the year.
High-density production has been increasing for numerous perennial crops in different parts of the world. Recent work suggests that high-density systems improve yields, fruit quality, and harvest efficiency. Yet, despite the increasing amount of acreage in high-density production, there has been surprisingly little comparative research on pest and disease patterns in such systems compared to conventional systems. Given the significantly different structure of high-density plantings compared to conventional orchards, pest abundance, disease prevalence, and appropriate management strategies are likely to differ. Here we describe the characteristics of high-density plantings and how their management and infrastructure are likely to have direct and indirect effects on pest abundance and disease prevalence. We also describe how high-density structure, management, infrastructure, fruit abundance, and microclimate present challenges and opportunities for pest and disease management strategies. For example, the compact structure of high-density plantings may mean smaller quantities of inputs are required while, at the same time, the high foliage density may reduce penetration of pesticide sprays and other inputs. Finally, we propose critical areas for future research including 1) patterns of pest and disease prevalence among rootstocks and varieties, 2) how infrastructure and timing of high-density management affect pest and disease prevalence, 3) how microclimate and fruit abundance vary across canopy levels, with associated impacts on pest and disease prevalence, and 4) types of pest and disease management that are likely to be effective in high-density systems.
Widespread herbicide-resistant weeds and severe insect pest infestations pose a challenge to the preplant pest management (PPPM) strategy currently in use in leaf vegetable fields in southern China. The aim of this study was to develop a new weed and insect control method for use before planting leaf vegetables in southern China. Two flaming machines (a tractor mounted and a trolley flaming machine) were designed, and their efficacies for the control of insect and weed pests were evaluated and compared in two field trials. With liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at 101 kg·ha ⁻¹ , flaming machines reduced plant numbers by 86.7% to 98.8% 2 days after treatment (DAT), which was equal to or higher than the reduction after application of paraquat at 900 g·ha ⁻¹ . Some weed species, especially awnless barnyard grass ( Echinochloa colona ) and goosegrass ( Eleusine indica ), regrew at 7 DAT, resulting in a decrease in control efficacy. Flaming machines also reduced the number of diamondback moth ( Plutella xylostella ) larvae by 83.0% to 88.2% and the number of adult striped flea beetles ( Phyllotreta striolata ) by 64.9% to 80.9%. This is the first report on flaming treatment in China to show that this method is a promising alternative to chemical pesticides for PPPM in leaf vegetable fields.
