Identification

Title

Semiochemical experiment data, 2005-2009 - RELU Re-bugging the system: promoting adoption of alternative pest management strategies in field crop systems

Abstract

The semiochemical experiment data were collected from novel laboratory, semi-field- and field-scale bioassay experiments taking behavioural observations and counts of pest insects and their natural enemies in the field. Crop yields were taken. Chemical analyses were also done using air entrainment. The study is part of the NERC Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) programme. Despite the widespread concerns regarding the use of pesticides in food production and the availability of potentially viable biological pest control strategies in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) systems, the UK cereal crop production remains a bastion of pesticide use. This project aimed to understand further the reasons for this lack of adoption, using the control of summer cereal aphids as a case study. Reasons for this lack of adoption of biocontrol remain a complex interplay of both technical and economic problems. Economists highlight the potential path dependency of an industry to continue to employ a suboptimal technology, caused by past dynamics of adoption resulting in differential private cost structures of each technique. Further, risk aversion on the part of farmers regarding the perceived efficacy of a new technology may also limit up-take. This may be particularly important when IPM rests on portfolios of technologies and when little scientific understanding exists on the effect of portfolio and scale of adoption on overall efficacy. Faced with this, farmers will not adopt a socially superior IPM technology and there exists a clear need for public policy action. This action may take the form of minimising uncertainty through carefully designed research programs, government funding and dissemination of the results of large-scale research studies or direct public support for farm landscape and farm system changes that can promote biocontrol. This research looked at alternatives to the use of insecticides in arable agriculture and the difficulties facing producers in switching over to them. Two approaches were explored: habitat manipulations, to encourage predators and parasites, and using naturally occurring odours to manipulate predator distribution as model technologies. Scale and portfolio effects on biocontrol efficacy have been investigated in controlled and field scale experiments. Aim is to improve the way research and development of new products and techniques are carried out to help break the dependence on chemical pesticides. Conservation biological control experiments data investigating the effect of wild field margins on pests and predators, from this same research project, are also available. In addition, socio-economic research has been used to help direct natural science research into the development and evaluation of a combination of habitat management and semiochemical push-pull strategies of appropriate scale and complementarity to yield viable, commercially attractive and sustainable alternatives to the use of insecticides in cereal crop agriculture. These socio-economic data are available through the UK Data Archive under study number 6960 (see online resources). Further information and documentation for this study may be found through the RELU Knowledge Portal and the project's ESRC funding award web page (see online resources).

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

https://data-package.ceh.ac.uk/data/0ba3a95d-f384-44cd-bc49-481618557ebd

name: Download the data

description: Download a copy of this data

function: download

https://data-package.ceh.ac.uk/sd/0ba3a95d-f384-44cd-bc49-481618557ebd.zip

name: Supporting information

description: Supporting information available to assist in re-use of this dataset

function: information

Unique resource identifier

code

1374854891838

codeSpace

CEH:EIDC:

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

biota

environment

farming

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Human Health and Safety

Land Use

originating controlled vocabulary

title

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2008-06-01

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

GeoNames

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2006-01-01

Keyword set

keyword value

age

agricultural land

agronomy

cereals

cropping systems

crops

environmental conservation

environmental degradation

environmental issues

environmental management

farmers

farms

gender

grain crops

insecticides

land tenure

organic farming

pest control

pesticides

pests

weeds

Rural Economy and Land Use Programme

Re-Bugging the System: Promoting Adoption of Alternative Pest Management Strategies in Field Crop Systems

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-8.655

East bounding longitude

1.79

North bounding latitude

60.85

South bounding latitude

49.9

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

2005-01-01

End position

2009-12-31

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2013-07-26

Frequency of update

notPlanned

Quality and validity

Lineage

Research funded by Economic and Social Research Council, Natural Environment Research Council and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. Award Number: RES-224-25-0093 Using the natural plant activator cis-jasmone as a model, studies aimed to: - develop effective formulations for field use - determine the response of natural enemies to treated plants - identify suitable crop varieties - investigate effects on pest populations in the field at increasing scales The data were collected from novel laboratory, semi-field- and field-scale bioassay experiments taking behavioural observations and counts of pest insects and their natural enemies in the field. Crop yields were taken. Chemical analyses were also done using air entrainment. Full details of the experiments and the data collection methodologies used can be found in the user guide, which is included in the data download package.

Conformity

Conformity report

specification

title

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2010-12-08

degree

explanation

Data format

name of format

Comma-separated values (CSV)

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

unknown

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

organisation name

Rothamsted Research

email address

john.pickett@bbsrc.ac.uk

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Responsible party

organisation name

School of Economics, Keynes College, University of Kent

email address

A.Bailey@kent.ac.uk

responsible party role

principalInvestigator

Responsible party

organisation name

School of Economics, Keynes College, University of Kent

email address

A.Bailey@kent.ac.uk

responsible party role

owner

Responsible party

organisation name

Centre for Sustainable Pest and Disease Management, Biological Chemistry Department, Rothamsted Research

email address

john.pickett@bbsrc.ac.uk

responsible party role

author

Responsible party

organisation name

Centre for Sustainable Pest and Disease Management, Biological Chemistry Department, Rothamsted Research

email address

john.pickett@bbsrc.ac.uk

responsible party role

owner

Responsible party

organisation name

Environmental Information Data Centre

email address

eidc@ceh.ac.uk

responsible party role

custodian

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

organisation name

Environmental Information Data Centre

full postal address

Lancaster Environment Centre, Library Avenue, Bailrigg

Lancaster

LA1 4AP

UK

email address

eidc@ceh.ac.uk

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2020-01-30T15:09:48

Metadata language

eng