Context
Tuta absoluta is a lepidopteran leafminer native to South America which has become a major pest on tomato plants since its arrival in Spain in 2006. It is now widespread in Europe, Africa and Asia. It mainly attacks the leaves, feeding on the parenchyma, although it can also penetrate the fruit and render it unmarketable. In extreme cases, it can also attack shoots, compromising the growth of the plant. All this damages crop productivity as the leaf area is reduced and more of the fruit is unmarketable. There is also a greater risk of returns from customers when they detect pest damage that was overlooked when preparing fruit for sale. This has a direct impact on farmers’ incomes as it lowers the amount of marketable produce and damages their image among customers, which can have an impact on future orders. In this sense, the operational group will tackle with this problem, one of the most important phytosanitary problems for tomato cultivation in our region.
Objectives
1. Incorporate D. gelechiidivoris in integrated pest management programmes for the biological control of T. absoluta, either by managing their natural populations or carrying out inoculative releases in commercial fields in the Maresme production area.
2. Fine tune and/or scale up parasitoid rearing, to obtain enough individuals to carry out incremental releases in commercial crops.
3. Disseminate the results obtained through the Horta.Net programme to improve the control of this moth in Catalonia.
Objectives
1. Incorporar a D. Gelechiidivoris a los programas de Gestión Integrada de Plagas para el control biológico de T. absoluta, ya sea mediante el manejo de sus poblaciones naturales o realizando liberaciones inoculativas en campos comerciales de la zona productora del Maresme.
2. Puesto a punto y/o escalado de la cría del parasitoide, para poder disponer de individuos que nos permitan realizar liberaciones aumentativas en cultivos comerciales.
3. Dar difusión de los resultados obtenidos a través del programa Horta.Net para mejorar el control de este lepidóptero a nivel de Cataluña.
Activities
Activity 1. Setting up and scaling the rearing of Dolichogenidea gelechiidivoris. Obtaining parasitoids for release in conventional greenhouses.
Activity 2. Assessing the usefulness of releases of D. gelechiidivoris in the control of T. absoluta. Providing protocols for releases in commercial greenhouse.
Activity 3. Integrating D. gelechiidivoris into the integrated pest management programme. Obtaining information on the side effects of common tomato crop pesticides on populations of D. Gelechiidivoris.
Activity 4. Dissemination and transfer of results. Informing the market garden sector (farmers and plant protection technicians) of the actions in the project and their results.
Activities
Actividad 1. Puesta a punto y escalado de la cría de Dolichogenidea gelechidiivoris.
Actividad 2. Evaluación de la utilidad de las liberaciones de D. gelechidiivoris en el contraojo de T. absoluta. Disponer de protocolos para realizar liberaciones en invernaderos comercial.
Actividad 3. Integración de D. gelechidiivoris en el programa de Gestión Integral de Plagas. Disponer de información sobre el efecto secundario de los plaguicidas habituales en el cultivo de tomate sobre las poblaciones de D. gelechidiivoris.
Actividad 4. Divulgación y transferencia de los resultados.
Project details
- Main funding source
- Rural development 2014-2020 for Operational Groups
- Rural Development Programme
- 2014ES06RDRP009 Spain - Rural Development Programme (Regional) - Cataluña
Location
- Main geographical location
- Barcelona
EUR 167 904.00
Total budget
Total contributions from EAFRD, national co-financing, additional national financing and other financing.
Contacts
Project coordinator
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Silvia Fernandez
Project coordinator