Abstract
Apple is one of the most important fruits worldwide; in addition, it constitutes nearly 60% of Hungary’s total fruit production. Presently, the challenge in pest management is not only the decreased range of pesticides, but also the deeper knowledge of natural enemies occurring in fruit plantations, and in their neighborhood. Our objective was to study how season, year, orchard structure, and varieties influence the occurrence of insect pest damage and beneficial insects in apple. We also investigated the strength of correlations between pest damage and natural enemies, as well as among the different natural enemy taxa. The experiment was conducted in three apple orchards, and the damage of insect pests and the number of natural enemies were monitored across ten trees/varieties/sectors/dates. All sites were managed according to integrated pest management (IPM) guidelines, and no unmanaged or untreated control plots were included. Significant differences were observed among orchards and years for all taxa, except Cydia pomonella (L.) among orchards and Orius spp. among years. Pest populations are primarily driven by seasonal and climatic factors, while beneficial insects are shaped more by local habitat features and orchard structure. No effect of the varieties on insect damage could be detected, whereas the abundance of beneficial organisms differed significantly among varieties in more cases. The weak correlations between pests and their natural enemies suggest that the presence and activity of predators depend not only on pest abundance but also on other interrelated ecological factors in intensive apple orchards. The damage caused by C. pomonella could also be kept at a low level in all orchards when appropriate pest management technology is applied.
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Insect taxa differed among orchards and years, except Cydia pomonella among orchards and Orius spp. among years.
- Taxon
- Apple
Malus domesticat0 - Outcome
- all taxae0
- Qualifier
- except Cydia pomonella (L.) among orchards and Orius spp. among yearse0
- Setting
- orchardse0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Significant differences were observed among orchards and years for all taxa, except Cydia pomonella (L.) among orchards and Orius spp. among years.”
t0“Apple”
Claim · model-written summary
Seasonal and climatic factors were judged to be the primary drivers of pest populations.
- Taxon
- AppleMalus domesticat0
- Interactor
- Peste0pest
- Outcome
- Pest populationse0
- Qualifier
- seasonal and climatic factorse0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Pest populations are primarily driven by seasonal and climatic factors”
t0“Apple”
Claim · model-written summary
Local habitat features and orchard structure were judged to shape beneficial insects.
- Taxon
- AppleMalus domesticat0
- Outcome
- beneficial insectse0
- Setting
- orchard structuree0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“beneficial insects are shaped more by local habitat features and orchard structure.”
t0“Apple”
Claim · model-written summary
Varieties had no detectable effect on insect damage.
- Taxon
- AppleMalus domesticat0
- Material
- varietiese0
- Outcome
- insect damagee0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“No effect of the varieties on insect damage could be detected”
t0“Apple”
Claim · model-written summary
Beneficial organism abundance differed significantly among varieties in more cases.
- Taxon
- AppleMalus domesticat0
- Material
- varietiese0
- Outcome
- abundance of beneficial organismse0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the abundance of beneficial organisms differed significantly among varieties in more cases.”
t0“Apple”
Claim · model-written summary
Pest damage and natural enemies showed weak correlations.
- Taxon
- AppleMalus domesticat0
- Interactor
- pestse0pest
- Outcome
- weak correlations between pests and their natural enemiese0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The weak correlations between pests and their natural enemies”
t0“Apple”
Claim · model-written summary
Appropriate pest management was associated with low C. pomonella damage in all orchards.
- Taxon
- AppleMalus domesticat0
- Treatment
- appropriate pest management technologye0
- Interactor
- C. pomonella
Cydia pomonellae0pest - Outcome
- damage caused by C. pomonellae0
- Direction
- lowe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The damage caused by C. pomonella could also be kept at a low level in all orchards when appropriate pest management technology is applied.”
t0“Apple”