Publications des agents du Cirad

Cirad

Assessment of yield and economic losses caused by pests and diseases in a range of management strategies and production situations in coffee agroecosystems

Cerda R.. 2017. Montpellier : Montpellier SupAgro, 139 p.. Thèse de doctorat -- Ecologie fonctionnelle et sciences agronomiques.

Crop losses due to pests and diseases are a major threat to incomes and food security of thousands of rural families worldwide. The assessment of crop losses (yield and economic losses) and their causes is needed to improve the development of agroecosystem s capable to offer good crop yields, regulation of pests and diseases, and other ecosystem services. This doctoral research aimed to contribute to the research field of crop losses, by providing experimental and modeling approaches that could be used in perennial crops to estimate primary and secondary losses and analyze their causes. We worked in a perennial crop such as coffee, in Turrialba, Costa Rica, where coffee is grown in plantations from monocultures at full sun exposure to highly diversified agroforestry systems, and under a range of production situations (topoclimate, soil fertility, types of shade) and management strategies (agricultural practices and inputs). The three main research questions were: What is the impact of management strategies and production situations on pests and diseases and coffee yields? How do coffee yield losses caused by injury profiles vary in function of management strategies and production situations? Which types of coffee agroecosystems are capable to obtain the lowest coffee losses (yield and economic) and highest overall benefits (ecosystem services)? This research was developed through two experimental designs. The first was an experimental coffee parcel under controlled conditions (three - year experiment) to quantify primary and secondary yield losses by comparison of treatments, and to identify the main predictors of yield losses by structural equation modeling. The second experimental design was based on surveys in a coffee research plot network (coffee plots of smallholder farmers), where, during two years, we measured indicators of yields and indicators of four ecosystem services: regulation of pests and diseases, provisioning of agroforestry products, maintenance o

Mots-clés : coffea; agroécosystème; rendement des cultures; perte de récolte; ravageur des plantes; maladie des plantes

Documents associés

Thèse