Biological Institute recommends use of Coccinellidae to control vegetable pests

By Leonardo Gottems, Reporter for AgroPages

The Biological Institute (IB) is recommending the use of ladybugs (insects of the Coccinellidae family) to control aphids affecting vegetables, such as lettuce and cabbage. Terezinha Monteiro dos Santos Cividanes (IB Researcher) stated that the larvae and adult phases of these insects are natural predators of the pest.

"This is a very important job for producers, who, by maintaining an adequate environment in their plantations, are able to preserve and even increase the population of these ladybugs and produce vegetables without the need to apply chemicals," she said, adding that a larva or adult ladybug can prey on up to 200 aphids a day.

According to Cividanes, there are no biofactories in Brazil that produce ladybugs for commercialization. In this way, producers wishing to use these beetles on their crops must leave the attractive place for their presence, in order to perform the so-called conservative biological control.

“Ladybugs are very fragile to pesticides, which should not be used or they will die. In addition, producers need to keep plants with intense flowering close to the cultivation area, as adult ladybugs feed on small portions of pollen and nectar, especially when their preferred food, aphids, are scarce,” she explained.

Another important point is that the producers must consider all stages of the development of ladybugs, from the eggs to the adult beetles. "Often, due to the lack of knowledge about all these stages, producers end up killing the larvae or eggs of ladybugs, because they think that they are pests. But in fact, they can be the solution to the problems of a plantation," Cividanes added, noting that ladybugs can also be used in the biological control of pests affecting annual crops, fruit and ornamental plants.

Ladybugs measure from 1 to 10 millimeters. The adults, after mating, lay grouped eggs, which will give rise to small larvae. Both larvae and adults feed on aphids. “The only time when ladybugs do not feed on this pest is during the pupa stage, which is when they stay in a kind of cocoon and do not feed,” she further added.

A reference in Brazil and in around the world in terms of biological control, the IB is a branch of the Secretariat of Agriculture and Supply of the State of São Paulo and has a strong presence in the productive sector, having guided the creation and maintenance of bio-factories that develop these biological products for application on crops.

Overall, more than 80 Brazilian biofactories are receiving guidance from IB researchers. In 2019, the institute signed 23 contracts for the transfer of technology to these companies, located in São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso and Paraná.

The IB manages the Program for Innovation and Technology Transfer in Biological Control (Probio), which brings together the technologies and services offered by the institute, mainly for the cultivation of sugar cane, soybeans, bananas, rubber trees, flowers, strawberries, beans and vegetables.