Pesticides influence the success of biocontrol

Our project has completed field evaluation of the most commonly used orchard pesticides with respect to their effects on natural enemies. The majority of the laboratory bioassays have also been completed. The resulting data has yielded a wealth of information regarding not only acute toxic effects, but also on the sublethal effects such as reduced longevity, reproduction and prey consumption.  We have used this information to generate a ranked summary table of these effects to help the IPM decision makers select a treatment with the least impact on the natural enemies present in their orchard system. More about pesticide effects on natural enemies can be found in our 2012 annual progress report under Objective 1. We are also working to combine our results with other known pesticide effects data from the literature into a database incorporated into the WSU Decision Aid System (DAS). Once completed, DAS users will be able to use this information to make better informed IPM decisions.

Effects of pesticides on natural enemies tested to date. n/a indicates high acute mortality prevents measurement of sublethal effects; white cells not analyzed yet, hashed cells indicate 10% field rate used because of high acute mortality

updated 1/11/2013

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