Chile to use biological control to combat Lobesia botrana

 

The Agricultural and Livestock Service of the Region of Valparaiso (SAG), Chile, has launched a new biological control tool Campoplex capitator capable of dealing with Lobesia botrana, popularly known as European grapevine moth. According to the regional director of the SAG, Leonidas Valdivieso Sotomayor, the activity consists of the release of specific insects for two weeks in properties with domestic vineyards of the urban sector in the district of Limache.

 

"We launched a significant amount of this wasp in the sectors that have the highest concentration of the urban pest. It is a natural and specific insect that allows us to control cleanly and efficiently the vine moth, which causes so much damage to the production of table grapes," said Sotomayor.

 

The release is carried out through a process controlled and supervised by SAG inspectors, which consists of the release of adult specimens of this wasp, in a total of three cycles. 

 

According to the Valparaíso Secretary of Agriculture, Humberto Lepe Tarragó, this method of biological control is of great importance to the region's producers, and, if confirmed, its efficiency can be adopted in several countries that suffer from the moth problem.

 

"It is important because it seeks to reduce the presence of the pest in urban areas, and Lobesia is present in many fruit farms in the region. This, together with the technique of sexual confusion and farm control, will lead us to promptly control Lobesia, also being able to choose the application on a date approaching the export system of table grapes," he concluded.