Pesticide selectivity to natural enemies: challenges and constraints for research and field recommendation/Seletividade de agrotoxicos nos inimigos naturais: desafios e restricoes para a pesquisa e recomendacoes de campo

• Published in: Ciência rural 2017-06, Vol.47 (6)
• Main Authors: de Freitas Bueno, Adeney, Carvalho, Geraldo Andrade, Santos, Antonio Cesar dos, Sosa-Gomez, Daniel Ricardo, Silva, Debora Mello da
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• ISSN: 0103-8478
• DOI: 10.1590/0103-8478cr20160829

Pesticides are considered the first line of defense for the control of pests and diseases. At least in the short and medium term, the use of pesticides will remain an important strategy for pest management, allowing growers to produce crops of sufficient quality at low costs. A broad approach known as Integrated Pest Management (IPM) combines several different pest -control strategies, among which the combination of chemical and biological control stands out. It requires pesticides that achieve optimal control of target pests with minimal impact on the activity of biological control agents. Because of the dynamics ofpest infestations, IPM routines are continuously adjusted by growers, requiring comprehensive information about pesticide effects on natural enemies. However, this information is not always available and often contradictory, which constrains the design of field recommendations. In this review, we focused on the importance of selective pesticides in IPM programs, and the effects of chemical pesticides on parasitoids, predators, and entomopathogenic fungi. We provided a detailed discussion of the challenges and constraints for research on pesticide effects on natural enemies, as well as for the resulting field recommendations. Key words: IPM, biological control, chemical control. Para o controle de pragas e doencas, os agrotoxicos sao considerados a primeira linha de defesa. Pelo menos no curto e medio prazo, o seu uso continuara a ser uma estrategia importante de manejo, permitindo aos produtores produzir com baixo custo e boa qualidade. O manejo integrado de pragas (MIP) combina varias estrategias diferentes de controle de pragas. Entre elas, a associacao do controle quimico e biologico tem grande importancia. Isto depende de agrotoxicos que tenham um otimo controle das pragas alvo, com minimo de impacto possivel sobre a atividade dos agentes de controle biologico. Assim, devido a dinamica de pragas, os produtores precisam de informacoes completas sobre os efeitos dos agrotoxicos sobre os inimigos naturais visando constantemente ajustar suas rotinas de MIP. No entanto, estas informacoes nao estao sempre disponiveis, e quando encontradas, sao muitas vezes contraditorias, o que prejudica as recomendacoes de campo. Nesta revisao, destacamos a importancia de agrotoxicos seletivos em programas de MIP e seus efeitos sobre parasitoides, predadores e fungos entomopatogenicos. Ainda, discutiremos com mais detalhes os desafios e restricoes para a pesquis