Status of Greenhouse Insect Pest Biological Control in Korea

Abstract

The greenhouse, a protected ecosystem for crop production, can be infested by a number of pests and their population can rapidly grow because of the ideal environmental conditions. These conditions are also well suited for many natural enemies that can be used in biological control programs. Korea has a large greenhouse areas (82,544 ha) and an insect pest population are also high compared with greenhouses in the western countries. In strawberries and tomatoes, pests are not much of concern since biological control can be easily employed using only several natural enemies. The biological control systems have been developed for insect pests of these crops in Korea through RDA. RDA has developed several mass rearing techniques including rearing of predatory mite, Phytoseiulus persimilis. This technique has been transferred and disseminated to Agricultural Extension Centers and three natural enemy companies. This year Phytoseiulus persimilis was used to control two-spotted spider mite on commercial strawberry planted in about 215 ha, banker plants for aphids control were used on commercial leaf vegetable planted in 34 ha, and E. formosa was used on tomato planted in 1 ha.