The CPB （Colorado potato beetle）, Leptinotarsa decemlineata （Say）, is the major insect pest of potato crops in North America, Europe and Asia. Large amounts of chemical insecticides are used to control this insect...The CPB （Colorado potato beetle）, Leptinotarsa decemlineata （Say）, is the major insect pest of potato crops in North America, Europe and Asia. Large amounts of chemical insecticides are used to control this insect pest. Also, the CPB has developed over the years a resistance to most of the registered chemical insecticides, including those that were effective at one time. One of the most promising alternatives to chemical insecticides consists of taking advantage of natural enemies. The use of the stinkbug predator Perillus bioculatus to control the CPB has been successful at small scale. However, this natural enemy is not abundant in the nature and its hand release at large scale is not realistic. To remedy to this problem, predators must be massively released in potato fields using a mechanical distributor. Such a machine has been successfully designed and built at the Department of Soils and Agri-Food Engineering of University Lavak In this distributor, masses of predators are placed in small containers and mixed with a carrier material. In the field, the containers are mechanically opened at different locations, based on a source-point mass release option. These locations are determined in advance following a field monitoring of the populations of CPBs. Field trials proved that the mechanical distributor is reliable and ease of use. Its efficiency in releasing insect predators is high and comparable to that obtained in previous laboratory tests.展开更多
文摘The CPB （Colorado potato beetle）, Leptinotarsa decemlineata （Say）, is the major insect pest of potato crops in North America, Europe and Asia. Large amounts of chemical insecticides are used to control this insect pest. Also, the CPB has developed over the years a resistance to most of the registered chemical insecticides, including those that were effective at one time. One of the most promising alternatives to chemical insecticides consists of taking advantage of natural enemies. The use of the stinkbug predator Perillus bioculatus to control the CPB has been successful at small scale. However, this natural enemy is not abundant in the nature and its hand release at large scale is not realistic. To remedy to this problem, predators must be massively released in potato fields using a mechanical distributor. Such a machine has been successfully designed and built at the Department of Soils and Agri-Food Engineering of University Lavak In this distributor, masses of predators are placed in small containers and mixed with a carrier material. In the field, the containers are mechanically opened at different locations, based on a source-point mass release option. These locations are determined in advance following a field monitoring of the populations of CPBs. Field trials proved that the mechanical distributor is reliable and ease of use. Its efficiency in releasing insect predators is high and comparable to that obtained in previous laboratory tests.
