Integrated pest management strategies in the Ligurian olive-growing context for oil and table olives
PSR 2014-2020 Measure 16.02
Goals
Testing an effective integrated pest management strategy for olive tree pests in the Ligurian context; Testing a trap in the Ligurian olive context as a decision support for the control of olive fly, Olive Moth, Margaronia, Asian bug and other lepidopteran pests.
Application no.
12772
Members
DiSAAA-a dell’Università di Pisa
Az.Agr. Fratelli Merano
Project duration
24/06/2020 – 21/09/2022
The project
Olive growing represents a very important sector of Ligurian agriculture, particularly the Taggiasca cultivar, which accounts for more than 50 percent of regional olive growing, spread mainly in the provinces of Imperia and Savona. This cultivar retains the characteristic of dual-purpose (i.e., oil and table) on which it is necessary to develop integrated pest management strategies for different pests and product uses.
The two-year project aims to identify an integrated defense protocol for the fight against the main parasites of the olive tree, with particular reference to the fly, in light of the note from the Ministry of Health of 24 July 2019 relating to the revocation of plant protection products containing the active substance ”dimethoate”.
In addition, given the increasing production of Taggiasca olives for processing into table olives, decreasing the threshold of acceptable damage compared to the production of oil olives, more information and evidence related to the issue of insecticide residues should be available. Another goal is to test other traps as decision support for the control of olive fly, olive moth, margaronia, Asian longhorn bug and other lepidopterans. The realization of the project will make it possible to implement in the Ligurian olive-growing context the optimal combination of defense strategies allowed by the current specifications in the two production areas (oil and brine), with a view to maximizing their effectiveness in containing infestations by the main olive pests and minimizing the presence of residues in the oil and brine. At the end of the project, integrated pest management protocols, their location within the Merano farm, capture data, and ongoing monitoring will be indicated.
Information Note June 2020 – Information note September 2020 – Information note September 2021
Download the poster of the presentation at the conference AKIS of 26 October 2023
Practical demonstration
A meeting with olive growers was held at the Fratelli Merano olive farm on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020, to take a field view of the control strategies implemented during the olive season for the containment of major olive pests and pathogens.
The area provided by the Merano company was divided to test 6 theses:
- A: start defense in late June with repellents and resort to larvicides from September onward
- B: start defense with larvicides and resort to Lure&kill from September onward
- C: start defense with Flypack and resort to larvicides from September onward
- D: start defense with kaolin and resort to Lure&kill from September onward (this is the case for organic farms)
- E: resort only to the ‘use of larvicides in compliance with the maximum number of treatments allowed and giving preference to the less fat-soluble active ingredient at the end of the season.
- TALCO: start defense in late June with talcum powder and use larvicides from September onward
Download the slides to learn more.
Practical demonstration
At the Fratelli Merano olive farm, a meeting was held with olive growers on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, to take a field view of the placement and operation of traps for trapping insects in olive cultivation with special reference to the olive fly, Asian bug, and other lepidopterans that cause crown damage through copper desiccation.
Also mentioned during the meeting was the problem of waterfall and reduced fruit set, which also recurred during the 2022 olive season.