Researchers from INTA have devised a new tool for the management of insects in fruit trees. The use of this natural enemy allows reducing the number of applications of insecticides.
Discovered in 2004, in the rural area of General Roca -Rio Negro-, by the Plant Health team of the INTA Alto Valle, the wasp – Goniozus legneri – attacks the main insects that affect the quality and health of the fruit growing of North Patagonia. After years of observation, the INTA team determined that it could be used for the biological control of the primary pests in the region.
Liliana Cichon, the specialist in biological control of plagues in fruticulture of the INTA, stood out that this new practice is a sustainable tool in the economic, environmental and social part of an integrated management strategy of low environmental impact (MIBIA).
“The release of these wasps allows substantially reducing the number of applications of insecticides, using only those of low toxicity (green band) and obtaining the same efficacy as in conventional control strategies,” said Cichon. “This is what their potential is based on,” he said.
The innovation lies in the species, the culture, and the release method. “The wasp can parasitize lepidopterous larvae, that is, moths or butterflies,” he said. “For this, small paper bags that contain pupae in an advanced stage of development are attached to the trees, from which emerge the adults that will parasitize the larvae of the present pests,” he said.
According to the specialist, “they are evaluating with more precision the most appropriate moments to perform more efficient releases for the control of Carpocapsa (the key pest of pip fruits), granola, carob moth, leaf curlers and other isos” .