Biological Control in Brazil: an overview

The use of Biological Control methods is on the increase, mainly as a result of the mobilization of human resources in entomology studies since the establishment of graduate programs in this country in the 1960s. This review approaches the retrospective of Biological Control in Brazil in recent deca...

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Main Author: José Roberto Postali Parra
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidade de São Paulo 2014-10-01
Series:Scientia Agricola
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-90162014000500012&lng=en&tlng=en
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author José Roberto Postali Parra
author_facet José Roberto Postali Parra
author_sort José Roberto Postali Parra
collection DOAJ
description The use of Biological Control methods is on the increase, mainly as a result of the mobilization of human resources in entomology studies since the establishment of graduate programs in this country in the 1960s. This review approaches the retrospective of Biological Control in Brazil in recent decades, with an emphasis on the "culture of applying agrochemicals" adopted by Brazilian growers, which constrains progress in this area. Successful cases of Biological Control have been reported on in Brazil and there are, in fact, excellent programs in place that use insects or entomopathogenic microrganisms for insect pest control. Most of the studies in this area have been published in Portuguese and are, therefore, not readily available internationally. Importantly, half of the planted sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum), around four million hectares, is treated with natural enemies (insects) and/or pathogens. In contrast to other countries that employ Biological Control in small areas, the challenge in Brazil is to implement programs in large farms. Many obstacles must be overcome and discussed in working groups so that we can assume a world leadership position in the use of Biological Control in tropical regions as Brazil is already considered the leader in tropical agriculture. In this review, use of Biological Control is discussed within the Integrated Pest Management philosophy, as a path toward sustainable agriculture that is in harmony with other pest control methods. We must develop a technology of Biological Control adapted to tropical regions, rather than copying models developed for temperate regions, which are usually inappropriate for Brazilian conditions.
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spelling doaj.art-f69698c51a874259a007140e5e284aa82022-12-22T03:11:06ZengUniversidade de São PauloScientia Agricola1678-992X2014-10-0171542042910.1590/0103-9016-2014-0167S0103-90162014000500012Biological Control in Brazil: an overviewJosé Roberto Postali Parra0Universidade de São PauloThe use of Biological Control methods is on the increase, mainly as a result of the mobilization of human resources in entomology studies since the establishment of graduate programs in this country in the 1960s. This review approaches the retrospective of Biological Control in Brazil in recent decades, with an emphasis on the "culture of applying agrochemicals" adopted by Brazilian growers, which constrains progress in this area. Successful cases of Biological Control have been reported on in Brazil and there are, in fact, excellent programs in place that use insects or entomopathogenic microrganisms for insect pest control. Most of the studies in this area have been published in Portuguese and are, therefore, not readily available internationally. Importantly, half of the planted sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum), around four million hectares, is treated with natural enemies (insects) and/or pathogens. In contrast to other countries that employ Biological Control in small areas, the challenge in Brazil is to implement programs in large farms. Many obstacles must be overcome and discussed in working groups so that we can assume a world leadership position in the use of Biological Control in tropical regions as Brazil is already considered the leader in tropical agriculture. In this review, use of Biological Control is discussed within the Integrated Pest Management philosophy, as a path toward sustainable agriculture that is in harmony with other pest control methods. We must develop a technology of Biological Control adapted to tropical regions, rather than copying models developed for temperate regions, which are usually inappropriate for Brazilian conditions.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-90162014000500012&lng=en&tlng=entropical agricultureentomologyintegrated pest managementsustainable agriculture
spellingShingle José Roberto Postali Parra
Biological Control in Brazil: an overview
Scientia Agricola
tropical agriculture
entomology
integrated pest management
sustainable agriculture
title Biological Control in Brazil: an overview
title_full Biological Control in Brazil: an overview
title_fullStr Biological Control in Brazil: an overview
title_full_unstemmed Biological Control in Brazil: an overview
title_short Biological Control in Brazil: an overview
title_sort biological control in brazil an overview
topic tropical agriculture
entomology
integrated pest management
sustainable agriculture
url http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-90162014000500012&lng=en&tlng=en
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