Managing Floral Resources in Apple Orchards for Pest Control: Ideas, Experiences and Future Directions.

ABSTRACT: Functional biodiversity is of fundamental importance for pest control. Many natural enemies rely on floral resources to complete their life cycle. Farmers need to ensure the availability of suitable and sufficient floral biodiversity. This review summarizes 66 studies on the management of floral biodiversity in apple orchards, published since 1986. Approaches followed different degrees of intervention: short-term practices (mowing regime and weed maintenance, cover crops), establishment of durable ecological infrastructures (perennial flower strips, hedgerows) and re-design of the crop system (intercropping, agroforestry). Although short-term practices did not always target the nutrition of natural enemies by flowering plants, living conditions for them (alternative prey, provision of habi

SUBMITTER: Herz A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6723448 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature