Publications des agents du Cirad

Cirad

Agroecological management of staple food and horticultural crop insect pests in Niger

Ratnadass A., Salha H., Maazou A.A., Zakari-Moussa O., Kadi-Kadi H., Kano H., Ryckewaert P.. 2009. In : Gestion des insectes ravageurs des cultures et vecteurs de maladies pour un environnement viable et une sécurité alimentaire en Afrique : Current developments. Abstracts of the 18th Conference of the African Association of Insect Scientists, 16-20 Novembe. Nairobi : African Association of Insect Scientists, p. 72-72. Conférence de l'Association Africaine des Entomologistes. 18, 2009-11-16/2009-11-20, Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso).

In the Sahel, Icrisat extends agrosystems mixing food crops (cereals and legumes) and fruits and vegetables, e.g. as the Bio-reclamation of Degraded Land (BDL) system. These systems, which are faced with crop protection issues, provide ideal frameworks for studying the effect of the planned introduction of plant diversity on pests & diseases in agrosystems, in view of designing innovative cropping systems mobilizing natural regulation mechanisms. In Niger, pearl millet, sorghum and okra are subject to damage by respectively stem borer Coniesta ignefusalis, panicle-feeding bug Eurystylus oldi, and fruit worm Helicoverpa armigera. In a test conducted at Sadore, Andropogon grass was dismissed as a potential trap crop for C. ignefusalis, since bored stem incidence in a hedge bordering millet plots was significantly lower than on millet, with no C. ignefusalis larva recovered, compared to 1.8 larvae per stem in millet. Results of tests on trap cropping as an E. oldi management option on sorghum, conducted at Sadore and Konni in RCBD designs were not conclusive, although Crotalaria pallida showed some promise as a trap crop, along with castor bean and pigeon pea. The potential of pigeon pea and sorghum as perimeter trap crops for reducing infestation and damage of H. armigera on okra, was assessed in a field test at Konni, in a RCBD design. Okra infestation and damage by H. armigera were significantly lower in the pigeon pea-bordered treatment as compared to the unbordered control. As pigeon pea yields seeds well after okra harvest, it is currently tested in women farmers¿ BDL fields, to serve both as trap crop for okra protection during fruit maturation, then as a food crop during the dry season. Options for optimizing the agroecological management of these pests and for managing in an agroecological manner pests of other crops in these systems are also studied. (Texte intégral)

Documents associés

Communication de congrès

Agents Cirad, auteurs de cette publication :