Pest insects in pastures and their control

The production of pastures in quality and quantity becomes a key factor to obtain better results and productive yields in ruminants. Therefore, the good management of grasslands becomes of crucial importance for a better fluidity of the system. The production of pastures, in turn, may be limited by a number of factors such as environmental factors, the management of animals in paddocks, pests, among others. Bearing in mind that grasses belong to the kingdom of plants are autotrophic organisms, which synthesize their own food and are consumed by herbivorous animals and can also attract certain pest insects.

In that sense, pastures like any crop are vulnerable to pests, among these pests are some insects such as, for example, Spodoptera frugiperda, Mocis repanda, Aeneolamia spp. among others that can produce metabolic imbalances in these crops and affect the yield and quality of the fodder that is offered to ruminants, when these insects exceed the economic threshold we must worry, therefore, it is important to establish a management of these insects and in this way control them to avoid a decrease in the quantity and quality of fodder.

For the control of these insects there are different methods that can be applied in an isolated way or in an integrated way, When we talk about integrated, we refer to what was mentioned by Bustillo (2012), which describes an integrated management as a pest regulation system that takes into account the habitat and the dynamics of the insect populations and tries to combine all the known techniques and methods to eradicate them or keep them at acceptable levels so that they do not cause economic damage. This means that we must do monitoring on forage surfaces identify the possible pest, know its life cycle and be able to apply any of the established methods, if necessary applying all the controls in order to control the pest.

Currently, in pursuit of sustainable development, some methods have been established that do not have a significant impact on the environment, among which are biological control, which consists of the use of techniques based on natural and environmentally friendly mechanisms to keep pests under control without causing significant economic damage. It generally consists mainly in the use of natural enemies to maintain a low density of the pest insect, among these methods the use of entomopathogenic fungi has been implemented that allow to control the insects by just making contacts with them, since, it takes them as hosts and generates a kind of mummification, it is necessary to mention that this type of control are preventive therefore, it should be known at the time of the year in which the insect appears in the pastures, to make the application of these fungi in advance, in case the surface is already widely infested this method will not have adequate results and in these cases it is better to make use of synthetic products.

In the same vein, according to Urra (2015), entomopathogenic fungi are capable of parasitizing insects, which due to their specificity, harmlessness and easy handling have been successfully included in pest control management. The advantage of mushrooms is that they are easy to produce and to apply. The death of the insect occurs when the spores of the fungus germinate in the cuticle of the insect where it will cause mechanical damage by the penetration of the mycelium inside it to feed and the action of enzymes and toxins. The fungus usually ends up colonizing the entire insect after it dies, completes its life cycle, forming reproductive structures and new spores.

Dear readers, in general terms and from our point of view the ecological pest management, are undoubtedly the set of strategies with the best results for the pest control of our pastures since, it takes as a priority the ecological control, and in the case of using chemicals, it is done in a very punctual and focused way. Taking advantage of natural mechanisms such as insects or microorganisms that control pests, and having well-nourished plants, among others, will turn out to be the most economical and profitable producer over time, with less environmental impact for everyone.