The use of insects-predators will help to eliminate the use of poisons in agriculture, according to Novosibirsk scientists. In nature, predatory bugs, ladybugs and lacewings feed on insect pests. So instead of poisoning pests in the fields, why not send natural enemies against them?
Cultivation of vegetable and garden crops creates favorable conditions for the reproduction of pests on them. All kinds of aphids, caterpillars, beetle larvae threaten the crops. Traditionally, chemical insecticides are used to combat them. Novosibirsk scientists suggest abandoning dangerous to nature and man poisons and using predatory insects instead. The Siberian Federal Scientific Centre of Agro-BioTechnologies is engaged in studying such methods and developing recommendations for their practical use. Irina Andreeva, head of the laboratory of biological control of phytophages and phytopathogens, told about the essence of the method in her interview to Atas.info.
You say that in your laboratory there are so-called beneficial insects. What are these and what are their benefits?
Useful insects, in terms of plant protection, are those species that are entomophagous. That is, they feed on other insects, including pests. We study these species and use them to protect plants - agricultural, garden and horticultural.
So why study and breed them if they exist in nature? Let them breed there and eat their natural enemies.
Yes, there are different species of entomophagous insects in nature, which, by the way, can be both predatory and parasitic species. But often in natural conditions they are not enough to suppress high pest populations. That is, when we plant some crops in large numbers, we create favorable conditions for the development of pests. And they begin to multiply en masse. And natural populations of entomophages often do not have time to reproduce in sufficient numbers and suppress their numbers. Therefore, the most basic, effective species of entomophages are specially bred in biolaboratories or in biofactories and then released into the nature, in garden plots they can be used in greenhouses.
Who are your mentees? Are they all residents of Siberia?
Our laboratory contains both our local, native species, such as predatory bugs, hunting bugs, various species of lacewings, and various species of ladybugs. And there are species introduced from other countries. Like, for example, the predatory bedbug Podizus, which lives in North America, and at one time it was specially brought to our country to fight the Colorado potato beetle. But mostly such studies and experiments were conducted in the European part of the country, for example, in the Krasnodar Territory. And now in Siberia we are testing the efficacy of this bug, testing ways to use it on the potato fields.
Insects are studied in laboratories for both applied and fundamental purposes.
To what extent are your developments already practically applied?
In greenhouse complexes, the use of entomophages is already an integral part in order to reduce or completely eliminate the use of chemical pesticides, because there the products of vegetables or berries are used in fresh form. Therefore, ladybugs, lacewings, predatory bugs and parasitic insect species are very actively used there. They can be purchased and released in the open ground, even in one' s own garden plots.
In other words, is your research of purely applied importance?
In general, yes. There are, of course, fundamental components, where we study the life cycle, some biological features.
The lacewing larva feeds on aphids
But the question arises - isn't the balance of nature disturbed when we release an additional large number of insects into the wild?
We don't invent anything, we take everything from nature. The same ladybugs, lacewings, they are in nature, there just may not be enough of them. But in any case, if they are predators or parasites, if they do not have natural food, then they will not develop further, and their numbers will decrease. That is, the number of useful insect species depends on the number of pests. And because we ourselves upset this balance, when we grow plants in large numbers, we create conditions for the reproduction of pests. Therefore, we have to return to this balance.
We restore the biological balance in nature and do no harm. But of course, we always need to do research for this. Because there are cases when some species of entomophages are aggressive. For example, in their own environment, in another region, they do not breed in large numbers, because entomophages also have their own natural enemies. But by bringing them to another region where they have no enemies, you can get breeding in large numbers. Therefore, I would emphasize that it is necessary to carry out such studies.
We proceed from the crop to be protected, from the pests that damage this crop, conduct a record of their numbers and then already calculate how many entomophages should be released on a particular area. The criterion of optimality is the predator/prey ratio. Let us say that in the case of potatoes, one predator to 30-40 Colorado potato beetle larvae is effective. In this case, no additional protective measures can be carried out.