{"title":"Cereal leaf beetle (Oulema spp.) damage reduces yield and is more severe when natural enemy action is prevented","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.cropro.2024.106893","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Insect pests pose a global threat to crop yield. Biological control by natural enemies aims to reduce pest damage in a sustainable way. Cereal leaf beetles (CLB; <em>Oulema</em> spp.) are major pests in small-grain cereals. We studied the effect of natural enemies on CLB damage and its consequences on yield within its native distribution area in Europe. In exclusion cage experiments and by documenting a naturally occurring CLB damage gradient, we found that CLB damage reduced yield, but natural enemy action reduced the damage by CLB. Comparing exclusion and open treatments on artificially CLB-infested plants, plants accessible to natural enemies had 30% less leaf damage. CLB damage significantly affected yield parameters. Thousand grain weight was 22–29% less in maximum leaf damage scenarios. In the damage gradient field, maximal infestation reduced grain yield by 52%. However, maximal damage occurred only on a few plants and over small areas. In natural infestation cases, the number of CLB larvae per plant had a median of zero; nevertheless, there were more than 35 larvae on 10% of the plants. Patchiness explained 40% of CLB damage variance. Damage was unevenly distributed; as a result, thousand grain weight decreased only by 1.6% for 75% of the plants but by 18% for 10% of the plants. In the natural damage gradient, the estimated yield loss for the entire field was 16% due to CLB. Skewed CLB distribution may lead to perceptible yield losses locally, but natural enemies may limit overall damage to the crop.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":10785,"journal":{"name":"Crop Protection","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261219424003211/pdfft?md5=2cd72524343e5917461d930e6cecf2f7&pid=1-s2.0-S0261219424003211-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Crop Protection","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261219424003211","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"AGRONOMY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Insect pests pose a global threat to crop yield. Biological control by natural enemies aims to reduce pest damage in a sustainable way. Cereal leaf beetles (CLB; Oulema spp.) are major pests in small-grain cereals. We studied the effect of natural enemies on CLB damage and its consequences on yield within its native distribution area in Europe. In exclusion cage experiments and by documenting a naturally occurring CLB damage gradient, we found that CLB damage reduced yield, but natural enemy action reduced the damage by CLB. Comparing exclusion and open treatments on artificially CLB-infested plants, plants accessible to natural enemies had 30% less leaf damage. CLB damage significantly affected yield parameters. Thousand grain weight was 22–29% less in maximum leaf damage scenarios. In the damage gradient field, maximal infestation reduced grain yield by 52%. However, maximal damage occurred only on a few plants and over small areas. In natural infestation cases, the number of CLB larvae per plant had a median of zero; nevertheless, there were more than 35 larvae on 10% of the plants. Patchiness explained 40% of CLB damage variance. Damage was unevenly distributed; as a result, thousand grain weight decreased only by 1.6% for 75% of the plants but by 18% for 10% of the plants. In the natural damage gradient, the estimated yield loss for the entire field was 16% due to CLB. Skewed CLB distribution may lead to perceptible yield losses locally, but natural enemies may limit overall damage to the crop.
期刊介绍:
The Editors of Crop Protection especially welcome papers describing an interdisciplinary approach showing how different control strategies can be integrated into practical pest management programs, covering high and low input agricultural systems worldwide. Crop Protection particularly emphasizes the practical aspects of control in the field and for protected crops, and includes work which may lead in the near future to more effective control. The journal does not duplicate the many existing excellent biological science journals, which deal mainly with the more fundamental aspects of plant pathology, applied zoology and weed science. Crop Protection covers all practical aspects of pest, disease and weed control, including the following topics:
-Abiotic damage-
Agronomic control methods-
Assessment of pest and disease damage-
Molecular methods for the detection and assessment of pests and diseases-
Biological control-
Biorational pesticides-
Control of animal pests of world crops-
Control of diseases of crop plants caused by microorganisms-
Control of weeds and integrated management-
Economic considerations-
Effects of plant growth regulators-
Environmental benefits of reduced pesticide use-
Environmental effects of pesticides-
Epidemiology of pests and diseases in relation to control-
GM Crops, and genetic engineering applications-
Importance and control of postharvest crop losses-
Integrated control-
Interrelationships and compatibility among different control strategies-
Invasive species as they relate to implications for crop protection-
Pesticide application methods-
Pest management-
Phytobiomes for pest and disease control-
Resistance management-
Sampling and monitoring schemes for diseases, nematodes, pests and weeds.