DEVELOPMENT OF VERTEBRATE PEST MANAGEMENT MODELS FOR SUGARCANE CROP

Enhanced Pest Management with Cover Crop Mulches

Living and dead plant vegetation on the surface of soils can provide opportunities for regulating pest populations in no-tillage production systems. Cover crops generate substantial quantities of surface vegetation and residue that can be managed to enhance control of pests. Research at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center has shown that weed germination and emergence is inhibited by hig...

Microprojectile plant transformation for sugarcane giant borer pest management

Background The sugarcane giant borer, Telchin licus licus, is the major insect pest of crops in northern and northeastern regions of Brazil. This insect has a long life cycle, which lasts about 160-190 days and presenting four major life stages, egg, larvae, pupae and moth [1]. During larval stage, the insect penetrates the plant as soon as they hatch and starts feeding of the stalk, where it s...

The ecology of vertebrate pests and integrated pest management (IPM)

Analysis Of Vertebrate Pest Research

Research on vertebrate pest control is mostly empirical, focusing on control of species X in location Y using method Z. Such an approach is needed. The science of vertebrate pest research is developing some generalizations across species, locations, and methods. This paper further explores such generalizations by discussing six questions asked by Hone (1994), the answers to which are relevant t...

Linking pasture, livestock productivity and vertebrate pest management

The study of pastures, pests (rabbits and caterpillars) and sheep productivity by Barlow (1987; New Zeal J Ecol 10: 43–55) is reviewed, updated and extended. Pasture growth was modelled as a dynamic process, though sheep and rabbit abundance were not dynamic. The model predicted that there was a parabolic relationship between sheep productivity and sheep stocking rate with the effects of rabbit...