Advocating a need for suitable breeding approaches to boost Integrated Pest Management: A European perspective
Résumé
Currently, European farmers do not have access to a sufficient number and diversity of crop species/varieties. This prevents them from designing more resilient cropping systems to abiotic and biotic stresses. Crop diversification is a key lever to reduce pest (pathogens, animal pests and weeds) pressures at all spatial levels from fields to landscapes. In this context, plant breeding should consist of: i) increased efforts in the development of new or minor crop varieties to foster diversity of cropping systems, and ii) focus on more resilient varieties showing local adaptation. This new breeding paradigm, called here “breeding for Integrated Pest Management (IPM)”, may boost IPM – through the development of cultivars with tolerance or resistance to key pests – with an ultimate goal of reducing reliance on conventional pesticides. At the same time, this paradigm has legal and practical implications for future breeding programs, including those targeting sustainable agricultural systems. By putting these issues into the context, this paper presents the key outcomes of a questionnaire survey as well as experts’ views expressed during an EU workshop entitled “Breeding for IPM in sustainable agricultural systems”.
| Origine | Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s) |
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