The Influence of Mixed Green Covers, a New Trend in Organic Olive Growing, on the Efficiency of Predatory Insects

Intensive soil tillage and the resulting erosion constitutes one of the main problems in olive growing. Palliative practices such as implementing vegetable covers are encouraged. Recently, the method of adding inert green roofs to the soil, either alone or in combination with adventitious vegetation...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Agriculture (Basel) 2023-04, Vol.13 (4), p.785
Main Authors: González-Ruiz, Ramón, Gómez-Guzmán, José Alfonso, Martínez-Rojas, Minerva, García-Fuentes, Antonio, Cordovilla, María del Pilar, Sainz-Pérez, María, Sánchez-Solana, Antonio M., Carlos-Hervás, Juan, Rodríguez-Lizana, Antonio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino acids
Aquatic insects
Arthropods
biodiversity
Butterflies & moths
Dietary minerals
Farmers
Farms
Green buildings
Green roofs
herbaceous adventitious covers
Indicator species
Insects
mixed green cover
olive growing
parasitoids
Pesticides
Potassium
Predation
Predators
Soil erosion
Soils
Sustainable design
Tillage
Vegetation
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Summary:Intensive soil tillage and the resulting erosion constitutes one of the main problems in olive growing. Palliative practices such as implementing vegetable covers are encouraged. Recently, the method of adding inert green roofs to the soil, either alone or in combination with adventitious vegetation, has stood out. Assessing this agronomic measure is our main objective. This research was conducted in 2022 in the Jaén province (southern Spain), wherein olive groves with different managements were selected: (i) conventional, free from vegetation, (ii) ecologically managed olive grove containing a cover of adventitious vegetation (VC), and (iii) ecologically managed olive grove in which the remains of pruning are added to the adventitious cover (VC-MIX). Vegetation inventories and beneficial insect monitoring were performed using a combined device with chromatic and olfactory trapping. The olive moth (Prays oleae) and lacewing predators were selected as the indicator species. Both the beneficial insect diversity and relative plant abundance were higher in the VC-MIX, where the highest rates of predation by lacewings were found (88%). In turn, these parameters in the VC olive surpassed those of the conventional olive grove. The factors involved in the notable differences between the three management types are discussed.
ISSN:2077-0472
2077-0472
DOI:10.3390/agriculture13040785