1990 Supplement Publications of the International ... - IRRI books

There is now a growing interest in the control of agricultural pests by
natural enemies as an alternative or supplement to chemical control.
Although chemical pesticides are often very effective, they cause
problems of toxic residues environmental pollution and the development
of resistance in pests. Papers in this Proceedings discuss
problems of biological control, including the difficulty of combining
the use of natural enemies of pests with the use of pesticides. Various
ways are suggested in which pesticide damage to natural enemies
can be prevented or minimized. Most of the successes in the use of
natural enemies to control agricultural pests have been in the situation
where an introduced pest is controlled by an introduced
predator or parasitoid. lf the natural enemy is indigenous, it is usually
necessary to raise the population of natural enemies artificially, by
mass production in the laboratory. Several papers describe diets and
techniques for the mass rearing of natural enemies, including that of
hosts for egg parasitoids.
332 CENTER PUBLICATIONS