Assessing the oviposition preferences of predatory hoverflies is a key factor in the prediction of the success of these biological control agents against aphids in greenhouses, especially when using banker plant systems or in mixed-crop contexts. In this study, two aspects of the oviposition preferences of the American hoverfly, Eupeodes americanus...
The ladybird Cryptolaemus montrouzieri and the green lacewing Chrysoperla carnea have shown potential for use in augmentative biological control of mealybug pests in greenhouse crops. In the context of combining these predators within an integrated pest management system, the risk of negative intraguild interactions between both predators was evalu...
The objective of this work was to evaluate the possibility of using two strains of Trichoderma harzianum (Th118 and Th5cc) against bacterial wilt and canker symptoms in tomato plants grown under greenhouse conditions. Both strains were applied on the substrate of the tomato seedling in solid (S) and liquid (L) form at sowing. Clavibacter michiganen...
Published in Molecules
Benefits of nanotechnology in agriculture include reduced fertilizer loss, improved seed germination rate and increased crops quality and yield. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effects of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs), at 1500 ppm, on tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.) growth. ZnO-NPs were synthetized to produce either spheri...
Fecal sludge (FS) contains a significant amount of plant nutrients. FS (treated/untreated) has been used as soil ameliorant in several countries. Use of FS-based compost on lettuce may meet reservations due to possible microbiological contamination. The objectives of this research are: (1) To determine the fertilizer value of different formulations...
Published in Insects
Fungal entomopathogens are gaining increasing attention as alternatives to chemical control of arthropod pests, and the literature on their use under different conditions and against different species keeps expanding. Our review compiles information regarding the entomopathogenic fungal species Metarhizium flavoviride (Gams and Rozsypal 1956) (Hypo...
Published in Bulletin of entomological research
The potential of the mirid predator Dicyphus hesperus Knight (Heteroptera: Miridae) as a biological control agent of the sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci Gennadius (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) and the potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli Sulcer (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) in tomato was investigated in two experiments. The first experiment focused on t...
Purpose: Faecal sludge (FS) has been co-composted with many organic solid wastes globally. Agricultural wastes, such as oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) and cocoa pod husks (CPH), have received very little research attention as far as combining with FS is concerned. This study aimed at co-composting these wastes at different ratios to produce saf...
Over a period of seven years (2009-2016) hydroponic chyrsanthemum cultivation has been developed andtested in practice. Where the system delivered up to 25% higher yields at smaller scale, the larger systems of250-300 m2 turned out very sensitive to root infection. Research then focussed to understanding the key factorsthat caused the plants to bec...
(Semi-)closed greenhouses have been developed over the last decades to conserve energy. In a closed greenhouse, window ventilation is fully replaced by mechanical cooling while solar heat is temporarily stored in an aquifer. A semi-closed greenhouse has a smaller cooling capacity than a closed greenhouse and, in which mechanical cooling is combined...
