Impacts of Synthetic and Botanical Pesticides on Beneficial Insects

Abstract

Sustainable methods to control insect pests that affect crop yield have become a great challenge to mainly smallholder farmers. Beneficial insects in agricultural fields play an important role in natural pest control and pollination. The use of synthetic and botanical pesticides has detrimental effects to both natural enemies and pollinators in agricultural fields. The pesticides affect the survival of a range of life cycle stages, reductions in reproductive capacity, changes in the suitability of hosts for parasitising or predation, reduced emergence of parasitoids from sprayed host eggs and cause direct mortality. This has caused a serious menace to biological control agents and pollinators. When natural enemies are reduced, even more serious consequences may result for pest population dynamics which include the phenomena of resurgence and eruption of secondary pests. The decrease in pollinators reduces agricultural productivity. This review aims at exploring the side effects of synthetic and botanical pesticides on beneficial insects to give the basis for research on the negative impacts of synthetic and botanical pesticides on these insects. This information will assist in optimizing the use of pesticides in integrated pest management programmes by employing more sustainable and ecosystem benign practices such as the use of right dosage and selective pesticides in agricultural fields.

PEMBUATAN BIOPESTISIDA DARI EKSTRAK DAUN SIRSAK (Annona muricata) UNTUK PENGENDALIAN HAMA ULAT API (Setothosea asigna V.Eecke) PADA TANAMAN KELAPA SAWIT (Elaeis guineensis Jacq)

“…Dampak negatif lain dari penggunaan pestisida adalah terganggunya populasi serangga yang menguntungkan seperti penyerbuk dan musuh alami hama di lahan pertanian. Sebagian besar insektisida sintetis memiliki aktivitas dengan spectrum luas yang dapat membunuh serangga yang menguntungan dan hama sekaligus (Ndakidemi et al, 2016). Menurut US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), biopestisida adalah pestisida yang diturunkan dari bahan alam seperti hewan, tanaman, bakteri dan mineral.…”

Biopesticides and Their Role in Sustainable Agricultural Production

“…Farmers apply more chemicals in an effort to eradicate such pests [24] [25]. In the process of managing target pests, synthetic pesticides kill non-target beneficial organisms such as pollinators, predators and antagonists thereby disrupting biodiversity [26] [27]. After application, the active compounds of the synthetic pesticides are taken up and retained by crops.…”

Effects of Lippia sidoides Cham. (Verbenaceae) essential oils on the honey bees, Apis mellifera (Apidae: Hymenoptera), foraging

“…Increased insecticidal efficiency of these products is often associated with increased persistence in the environment (Lu et al, 2019), and the residual effect of xenobiotics may negatively affect vertebrate animals (Corcellas et al, 2015;Hughes et al, 2016). Xenobiotics may also have lethal or sublethal effects on non-target insects (Tomé et al, 2012;Ndakidemi et al, 2016;Tomé et al, 2017;Tschoeke et al, 2019) and may result in the development of resistance in populations of insect pests (Smith et al, 2016).…”