Since 2012, the Center for International Agriculture and Bioscience’s Plantwise program has guided growers in 10 Latin American countries to manage Absolute total (larvae shown here), a devastating lepidopteran pest of tomatoes, and replacing or supplementing chemical control with more sustainable strategies. (Photo by Marja van der Straten, NVWA Plant Protection Service, Bugwood.org)
By Yelitza C. Colmenárez, Ph.D., and Donna Smith
Lepidopterous pest Absolute total is one of the world’s most destructive phytophagous species affecting tomato plants and fresh tomatoes, causing high levels of plant production loss, especially when control strategies are not implemented. Absolute total—sometimes known as the tomato leaf borer, tomato worm, or tomato moth—continues to cause crop losses in the Americas, where it originated, but has recently invaded production areas in Europe, Asia, and Africa , due to the globalization of trade. and trade, which among other factors is considered responsible for the increase in invasive species.
U.S. too T. absoluteIts economic importance, management strategies are mainly focused on pesticides with a wide range of organic micropollutants that negatively affect the environment, mainly due to biomagnification and bioconcentration. Thus, more sustainable strategies should be used in addition to chemical control, including biological control agents such as parasitoids, predators and entomopathogenic microorganisms; botanical insecticides; and pheromones and plant resistance.
In an article published in May 2022 in open access Journal of Integrated Pest Management (JIPM), researchers at the International Center for Agriculture and Biosciences and several universities in Latin America detail case studies in sustainable management efforts for T. absolute through CABI’s Plantwise program. (This article’s co-author Yelitza C. Colmenárez, Ph.D., is the lead author of the report at JIPM.)
Absolute total Management from a plant perspective
Plantwise is a global program led by CABI that helps farmers address plant health problems through a national network of plant clinics established in each country through which the program is implemented. The clinics are run by trained plant doctors from whom farmers can get practical advice. During its 10-year implementation, there were more than 3,700 plant clinics in 34 countries around the world, where plant doctors provided diagnoses and management advice for every problem and every crop, benefiting farmers who need help with pests and diseases. plants that affect their crops. .
In Latin America and the Caribbean, Plantwise was operational in Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Grenada, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago.
In Bolivia, plant clinics were considered a standard procedure to increase the technical skills of extension officers and farmers, and there is evidence that they have led to increased crop yield and quality. Likewise, efforts have been made in Costa Rica to implement herbal clinics in collaboration with the main institutions in the country.
All Plantwise countries have developed ‘Green and Yellow List’ pest management guidelines with the help of experts in entomology, phytopathology, nematology and acarology, as well as agricultural extension agents from various institutions (e.g. , public universities, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and research institutes) to develop precise advice for dealing with some of the most important pests.
Since 2012, the Center for International Agriculture and Bioscience’s Plantwise program has guided growers in 10 Latin American countries to manage Absolute total, a devastating lepidopteran pest of tomato and replacing or supplementing chemical control with more sustainable strategies. Here, farmers in Bolivia examine tomatoes as part of a Plantwise training session with plant doctors providing diagnoses and management advice. (Photo courtesy of Yelitza C. Colmenárez, Ph.D.)
Since 2012, the Center for International Agriculture and Bioscience’s Plantwise program has guided growers in 10 Latin American countries to manage Absolute total, a devastating lepidopteran pest of tomato and replacing or supplementing chemical control with more sustainable strategies. Here, a grower in Bolivia examines a tomato during a Plantwise training session with plant doctors providing diagnoses and management advice. (Photo courtesy of Yelitza C. Colmenárez, Ph.D.)
Since 2012, the Center for International Agriculture and Bioscience’s Plantwise program has guided growers in 10 Latin American countries to manage Absolute total, a devastating lepidopteran pest of tomato and replacing or supplementing chemical control with more sustainable strategies. Here at a Plant Clinic in Bolivia, plant doctors with the Plantwise program provide diagnosis and management advice. (Photo courtesy of Yelitza C. Colmenárez, Ph.D.)
Plant clinics have allowed researchers to determine the distribution of T. absolute and identify tomato cultivars most commonly associated with this pest in Bolivia and Costa Rica; has been found to be most widespread in the department of Santa Cruz, followed by Cochabamba (five localities), Chuquisaca, Tarija and Tiraque in Bolivia, while in Costa Rica it has been reported from the province of Alajuela, where T. absolute feeds on eight cultivars.
In Bolivia, T. absolute management recommendations evolved greatly between 2012 and 2018. When plant clinics were first established, farmers were primarily advised to use chemical control; from 2012 onwards, however, the use of chemicals decreased and soon stabilized, reaching levels between 35 and 49 percent of recommended treatments. Meanwhile, alternative management strategies (eg biological, ethological and cultural controls) began to grow in Bolivia, thanks to the influence and recommendations of plant clinics.
During the implementation of Plantwise, technicians who gave this advice to farmers when they visited plant clinics were also trained in integrated pest management (IPM) and thus became familiar with more sustainable methods of managing key pest populations. Recommendations based on cultural control, including pruning of lower leaves and elimination of plant debris and infected fruit, among others, have shown a steady increase since 2014. They reached levels of 35 percent and 31.8 percent, respectively. in 2016 and 2017, similar to the 2016 Chemical Control Levels. Ethological control recommendations, such as the use of pheromone traps, showed a discrete increase from 2014 to 2016 (12 percent to 15 percent), but in 2017 and 2018 they reached a range of 25 percent to 27.1 percent.
Since 2012, the Center for International Agriculture and Bioscience’s Plantwise program has guided growers in 10 Latin American countries to manage Absolute total, a devastating lepidopteran pest of tomato and replacing or supplementing chemical control with more sustainable strategies. Among such treatments is the use of pheromone traps, presented here, as an ethological control. (Photo courtesy of Yelitza C. Colmenárez, Ph.D.)
Since 2012, the Center for International Agriculture and Bioscience’s Plantwise program has guided growers in 10 Latin American countries to manage Absolute total, a devastating lepidopteran pest of tomato and replacing or supplementing chemical control with more sustainable strategies. Among such treatments is the use of pheromone traps, presented here, as an ethological control. (Photo courtesy of Yelitza C. Colmenárez, Ph.D.)
As demonstrated in Bolivia and Costa Rica, the Plantwise program has brought about fundamental changes in the ways in which farmers deal with pests, including T. absolutebased on replacing or supplementing chemical control with more sustainable strategies, partly due to the recommendations of plant doctors.
Positive performance outcomes can influence the extension advisor’s ability to efficiently perform a given task, giving them the confidence to perform similar tasks in the future. The reduction in overuse of insecticides in tomatoes coupled with a higher rate of IPM adoption provided an excellent case study illustrating the importance of field extension professionals in advising growers. It proved the importance of investing in technology transfer to improve the quality of food and, from a broader perspective, the overall quality of life.
The positive results presented through the joint case studies at JIPM should encourage governments to invest more money in these basic principles. It is certainly much more efficient than trying to mitigate the consequences associated with pesticide misuse, such as pollution, public health issues and pest re-emergence, among others.
Yelitza C. Colmenárez, Ph.D., is director of the CABI Brazil Center and regional coordinator of Plantwise in Latin America and the Caribbean, based in Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil. Email: [email protected]. Donna Smith is a communications manager at CABI Switzerland.
This article is adapted from an article originally published on the Plantwise Blog. Republished with permission.
