Integrated pest management in field vegetable crops in northern Europe - with focus on two key pests

Improvements in (1) insecticide application, (2) supervised control, and (3 ) pest forecasting systems have each helped to reduce considerably the amou nts of insecticides required to control fly, caterpillar and aphid infestat ions in vegetable crops in northern Europe. By growing plants that are part ially resistant to certain major pests, it is now possible to apply even le ss insecticide than the dose recommended for the crop. In crops where only small amounts of insecticides are applied, natural predators should prevent large increases in pest insect populations and natural parasitoids should reduce the numbers of pest insects entering subsequent generations. The pos sible impact of introducing transgenic plants and the use of physical (crop covers), cultural (crop rotation, undersowing) and microbial (e.g. fungi, bacteria and nematodes) methods of control are also discussed. The withdraw al of certain insecticides, as a result of environmental and commercial pre ssures, means that some crops may soon be without appropriate insecticides for controlling one or more of the major pest species. Whether such systems will be sustainable, remains to be seen. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. Al l rights reserved.