Integrated Pest Management

"Integrated pest management (IPM) plays a key role in the practice of grassland agriculture because it effectively links the agronomic objectives (high yield, high forage equality, and long stand life) to the economic, environmental, and social goals of sustainable agriculture."

Source: Sulc, Mark R., William O. Lamp, and Michael Collins. Integrated Pest Management in Forages. 2018. Chapter 13 In: Forages: an introduction to grassland agriculture. 7th Ed. Vol. 1. Wiley Blackwell Press.

IPM Principles and Practices
  • Many species of organisms inhabit forage ecosystems, but only a few are pests (classification of pests is based on human values).
  • Populations of all pests are naturally suppressed, and control measures should take advantage of natural suppression.
  • Crop ecosystems can be managed to enhance pest suppression.
  • Each pest population can be managed by various methods, and generally the optimal approach is to integrate two or more methods.
  • When a pest population density warrants additional suppression, responsive control measures may be applied.
  • Control measures may produce unexpected and undesirable results.
  • Pesticide usage results in pest evolution so that pesticides become ineffective.
Methods of Pest Control
  • Natural (none): no human-directed changes; reliance is on natural processes that maintain the “balance of nature”.
  • Biological control: change the pest’s biological environment so that the natural enemies of the pest are increased.
  • Resistance breeding: change the pest’s host crop through plant breeding so that it is less affected by the pest.
  • Cultural control: change the pest’s physical environment so that the pest is less successful.
  • Direct control: change the pest so that it dies quickly or dies without completing its life cycle, either by chemicals or by physical means.
Required Knowledge
  • Recognition of the diversity of organisms within the forage agroecosystems
  • Identification of pest species
  • Understanding pest biology
  • Selection and use of available preventive control measures
  • Monitoring pest populations and applying responsive controls
  • Evaluation and refinement

Source: Wang, Guojie. 2018. Integrated Pest Management in Forages. CROP 310 lecture. Eastern Oregon University.

Diseases

 

Insects

 

Nematodes

 

Slugs and Snails

 

Weeds