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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Maricopa, Arizona » U.S. Arid Land Agricultural Research Center » Pest Management and Biocontrol Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #241049
Title: Fifty years of Integrated Control Concept: Moving the Model and Implementation Forward in Arizona.

Author
item Naranjo, Steven
item ELLSWORTH, P - University Of Arizona

Submitted to: Pest Management Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/10/2009
Publication Date: 10/27/2009
Citation: Naranjo, S.E., Ellsworth, P.C. 2009. Fifty years of Integrated Control Concept: Moving the Model and Implementation Forward in Arizona. Pest Management Science. 65: 1267-1286.

Interpretive Summary: A seminal paper was published 50 years ago by Stern and colleagues that introduced a concept that set the stage for all modern pest control. This concept was called Integrated Control (IC). It recognized that insecticides would be needed in many situations to control insect pests but at the same time recognized that natural forces in the environment, such as predators and parasitoids (biological control agents), may also play a key role. The idea was to use both chemical and biological control in partnership to control pests. The key elements of the concept were to ensure that insecticides be used only when absolutely necessary through adherence to pest density thresholds and that only insecticides which killed the pest but did not affect the biological control agents be used. Despite the simplicity of this concept there are still very few examples in practice today. In this review we detail such an example of IC for a whitefly pest in the Arizona cotton system. We discuss 1) the development of threshold levels to determine when chemical control is needed, 2) the development of sample plans that allow growers to rapidly scout their fields for the pest,3) an understanding of the role of biological control and 4) the deployment of selective insecticides that allow biological control to fully function in pest suppression. The tangible benefits have been a 70% reduction in insecticides, and a >$200 million savings in control costs and yield loss.

Technical Abstract: Technical Abstract: Fifty years ago Stern and colleagues outlined a simple but sophisticated idea of pest control based on the complementary action of chemical and biological control. This Integrated Control (IC) Concept has since been the driving force and conceptual foundation for all IPM programs. The four basic elements include thresholds for determining the need for control, sampling to determine critical densities, conservation biological control, and use of selective insecticides, when needed. Here we detail the development, validation and implementation of an IC program for Bemisia tabaci, in the Arizona cotton system. Economic thresholds derived from research-based economic injury levels were developed and integrated with rapid and accurate sampling plans into widely adopted and validated decision tools. Extensive research that measured the interplay among pest population dynamics, biological control by indigenous natural enemies, and selective insecticides using community ordination methods, predator:prey ratios, predator exclusion and demography validated the complementary roles played by chemical and biological control. The term “bioresidual”, was coined to describe the extended environmental resistance from biological control and other forces possible when selective insecticides are deployed. The tangible benefits have been a 70% reduction in foliar insecticides, a >$200 million savings in control costs and yield loss along with enhanced utilization of ecosystem services over the last 14 years.