NERC STUDENT CASE STUDY – IMPROVING PEST CONTROL SERVICES

Jun 4, 2019

NERC CASE PHD STUDENT Alistair Campbell PhD, Improving pest control services

Alistair Campbell’s PhD investigated improving pest control services and beneficial insect conservation in cider apple orchards using multi-functional flower mixes and was published in 2014.  The work was sponsored by Syngenta and run on Bulmers orchards and a number of conclusions were drawn:

• Mixed flower types attract a greater diversity of beneficial insects in apple orchards than mixes targeted to certain pollinators
• Some groups of beneficial insects may be affected by small changes in flower mix
• Some evidence for reduced leaf damage from increased predatory insect numbers, with no loss of yield
• Pollination can be a limiting factor for yield in cider apple orchard, with >80% of flower visits from wild pollinators
• There is a positive relationship between fruit set and solitary bees’ flower visits
• Provision of nesting sites for solitary bees would be beneficial

Further information and more details:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319940326_Getting_More_Power_from_Your_Flowers_Multi-Functional_Flower_Strips_Enhance_Pollinators_and_Pest_Control_Agents_in_Apple_Orchards

http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/84000/1/Campbell_apple_ms_nov16_full.pdf