Indicators of vegetal heterogeneity: a tool to evaluate the potential of biotic regulation in horticultural agro-ecosystems of La Plata’ surroundings, province of Buenos Aires, Argentina
The productive model which prevails at the Horticultural Belt of La Plata, had as a consequence ecological, economic and social negative impacts. One of the main ecological-productive problems is the incidence of pests and the increasing use of pesticides. The vegetal component of the agro-biodiversity can promote mechanisms of biotic regulation that prevent the appearance of pests. But its evaluation is not simple. Indicators were developed to predict, from the vegetal heterogeneity, the potential of the system to provide the mechanisms of biotic regulation of pests, and were evaluated in two contrasting farms: conventional and agro-ecological management. Two categories were organized, which group indicators related to the control “Bottom up” and “Top down” of pests. Twenty-two standardized and weighted indicators were obtained. The suggested indicators were appropriated to measure the potential of biotic regulation of pests from the vegetal heterogeneity agroecosystem and detect differences between the two productive systems. These differences were observed both in the biotic regulative potential in general, and for its two analyzed dimensions (top down and bottom up). The highest values were observed in the agro-ecologic system with respect to the conventional. This tool represents a contribution to find solutions to the pest control problem, mainly in family horticultural systems.
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Digital revista |
| Language: | spa |
| Published: |
Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata
2019
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| Online Access: | https://revistas.unlp.edu.ar/revagro/article/view/9527 |
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