National Agricultural Technology Extension: Key Technologies for Green Pest and Disease Management in Crops, 2021

Implementing the new concept of green development and the Regulations on the Prevention and Control of Crop Pests and Diseases has raised the bar for advancing green pest management. The National Agricultural Technology Extension Center has stated that, in 2021, efforts will be intensified to establish demonstration counties for green pest control, carry out integrated demonstrations of green control technologies, and vigorously promote seven major categories of green control techniques, thereby continuously expanding the coverage of green pest management and providing robust technical support for high-quality agricultural development.

Ecological control

Develop a technical system for ecological regulation of farmland landscapes, designing and arranging diverse habitats—such as ecological islands, patches, and corridors—across broad spatial and temporal scales. This approach creates environmental conditions favorable to natural enemies, suppresses pest populations, enhances the pest‑management and ecosystem‑service‑providing functions of agricultural ecosystems, and shifts from targeted pest control to the regulation of the crop–pest–natural‑enemy food chain.

Immune induction resistance

At present, the plant immune‑inducing agents widely promoted and applied are mainly amino‑oligosaccharide‑based and protein‑based products. A total of 141 registered formulations have been approved, including 35 active ingredients, produced by 120 companies. These products can be used for seed dressing, seed soaking, root drenching, and foliar spraying, inducing disease resistance and stress tolerance in plants while enhancing yield and income. Looking ahead, their applications are expected to expand into postharvest preservation and bagless fruit production technologies.

“Four-Attraction Technology”

In the field of light‑based pest control, emphasis is placed on promoting new, energy‑efficient, specialized insect‑attracting lamps equipped with natural‑enemy escape holes to minimize harm to beneficial organisms.

In the field of sex‑attractant technology, priority is given to promoting new fully biodegradable insect‑attracting traps, while gradually restricting and ultimately phasing out non‑degradable plastic traps.

In the field of sex‑pheromone‑based pest management, priority is given to promoting intelligent, self‑controlled high‑dose pheromone dispensers and highly specific, long‑lasting attractant formulations. Furthermore, there is vigorous promotion of sex pheromones for the fall armyworm and rice stem borers, as well as mating disruption agents for the oriental fruit moth.

In the field of food‑based attractant technologies, priority is given to promoting protein‑based lures for fruit flies, pheromone‑based baits for cotton bollworms, plant‑derived attractants for mirids, biological food attractants and floral‑scented lures for rice leafrollers, as well as food attractants for the fall armyworm, among others.

Electrolysis technology

It is categorized into alkaline or acidic electrolyzed water and is primarily used to control foliar diseases in protected‑crop vegetables; it also demonstrates some efficacy against rice false smut and wheat stripe rust. Given the currently high equipment costs, the next step is to refine electrolysis technology and reduce application expenses.

Insect-proof netting barrier technology

It is widely used for pest control in rice, fruit trees, and vegetable crops. Particularly in protected‑environment vegetable production, it effectively manages more than 20 major pests, including the beet armyworm, beet leafroller, diamondback moth, cabbage looper, and yellow striped flea beetle, while also serving as a barrier against virus‑transmitting vector insects such as aphids, whiteflies, thrips, and the American serpentine leafminer, thereby achieving both pest suppression and viral disease management. Going forward, it will be further promoted and applied in factory‑based rice seedling production and in protected‑environment vegetable cultivation.

Case Study: Using Insect-Proof Netting to Control Rice Viral Diseases

Conservation and Utilization of Insect Natural Enemies

Continue to promote and apply, on a large scale, parasitic natural enemy insects such as Trichogramma, Aphidius, and Encarsia, primarily for the control of pests in crops including maize, rice, vegetables, fruit trees, and cotton.

Key efforts will focus on promoting the use of predatory natural enemies—such as lady beetles, minute pirate bugs, and predatory mites—to control pests in crops including wheat, maize, cotton, vegetables, fruit trees, and tea.

Application of Biopesticides

Continue to promote and apply microbial insecticides derived from fungi, viruses, and bacteria, with key products including Bacillus thuringiensis, Bacillus sphaericus, Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae, Paecilomyces lilacinus, as well as nucleopolyhedroviruses, granuloviruses, and cytoplasmic polyhedrosis viruses.

Continue to promote and apply plant‑based pesticides containing active ingredients such as terpenes, alkaloids, phenolics, flavonoids, and sterols.

Continue to promote and apply plant growth regulators (such as brassinolide and other novel regulators), insect growth regulators (including ecdysteroids and juvenile hormone analogs), and agricultural antibiotics (such as jinggangmycin, wuyi mycin, avermectin, Nongkang 120, polyoxin, and zhongshengmycin).

Source: National Agricultural Technology Center