Institut für Strategien und Folgenabschätzung
In the EntoProg project, forecasting models and decision support systems will be created for important insect pests of oil seed rape, sugar beet and maize. The insect pests occur on the one hand as feeding pests and on the other hand also as vectors for viruses and bacteria. The models will forecast the activity of the insect pests spatially and temporally on the basis of weather data, impact data and the analysis of the surrounding habitats. The prediction models will support decisions in planning measures to control or regulate individual insect pests. Based directly on thresholds that reflect the risk of infestation on crops or indirectly via classification of the activity of insect pests, such as with pheromone traps or yellow trays, control and regulation measures can be optimised. The combination of the forecast models and the control thresholds are defined as decision support systems (EHS). They serve to promote integrated plant protection in the sense of the "National Action Plan for Plant Protection (NAP)" and the "Arable Farming Strategy 2035". In this respect, chemical-synthetic plant protection products can be avoided or reduced by exploiting the maximum efficacy of these products through optimal scheduling. On the other hand, methods for regulating the pests or for controlling them by biological control measures can be optimised. In this way, the usually lower efficiencies of biological control methods can be optimally exploited, ultimately further reducing the undesirable environmental effects of plant protection products. Furthermore, the forecast models serve as decision-making aids for optimising the scheduling and spatial planning of infestation surveys. This enables advisors and practical farmers to allocate their valuable and scarce working time in a resource-saving way. On the one hand, no important dates for infestation surveys are missed and, on the other hand, no working time is wasted in periods and regions where there is no risk of infestation. This also makes it much easier to assess the need to control the insect pests. This will lead to a reduction in unnecessary prophylactic treatments and promote the targeted control of insect pests. In this project, a consortium of five renowned research institutes operating nationwide, including the plant protection advisory services of seven plant protection services of the federal states, the Association of Hessisch-Pfälzische Zuckerrübenanbauer e. V. and the advisory institutions of the sugar industry, is being formed which, on the one hand, provides the current state of science and, on the other hand, also integrates the current practical aspects of plant protection. In this project, prediction models and EHS will be developed for the following pests: - oilseed rape: rapeseed flea, cabbage pod weevil, spotted cabbage shoot weevil, black cabbage shoot weevil, rapeseed stem weevil, rapeseed lance beetle, cabbage pod midge and the cabbage fly, - maize: corn borer - sugar beet: green peach aphid as a vector of yellowing viruses, and reed glass-winged cicada, as a vector of the disease SBR (Syndrome Basses Richesses). The forecasting models and EHS will be made available nationwide, free of charge and on a long-term basis on the www.isip.de framework, running since two decades. Even after the end of the project, the forecast models and EHS will continue to be maintained by the above-mentioned institutes and institutions.
Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture
