Plant protection

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The plant protection covers all the efforts, damage and reduction of crops by exploiting prevent all relevant scientific findings in an ecologically and economically reasonable manner or mitigate.

The term "plant protection" was used for the first time around 1890, and since 1891 it has appeared in the title of the "Journal for Plant Diseases and Plant Protection" published in Stuttgart. During the 1950s, the synonymously used term phytomedicine came up.

Legal basis

In Germany, the Plant Protection Act is the legal basis for plant protection. It defines crop protection as:

  • the protection of plants against harmful organisms and non-parasitic damage,
  • the protection of plant products from harmful organisms (storage protection), including the use and protection of animals, plants and microorganisms through which harmful organisms can be combated.

Plant protection may only be carried out according to good professional practice. Good professional practice serves in particular:

  • maintaining the health and quality assurance of plants and plant products
    • preventive measures
    • Prevention of the introduction or spread of harmful organisms
    • Defense and control of harmful organisms
  • the defense against dangers that may arise from the use, storage and other handling of plant protection products or other plant protection measures, in particular for human and animal health and for the natural balance.

It is part of good professional practice that the principles of integrated pest management and the protection of groundwater are taken into account.

These and other provisions of the Plant Protection Act thus lay down the rules according to which plant protection measures in agriculture, horticulture, forestry and stored product protection are to be carried out. Anyone who uses plant protection products must have the necessary reliability and the necessary skills and knowledge. In house and allotment gardens, plant protection products may only be used if these products are specifically approved for this purpose.

Different methods and strategies in crop protection

The building blocks of plant protection

Preventive measures are taken to keep the risk of infestation and infection of the cultivated plants at a low, economically harmless level. These include a .:

Direct measures are taken to reduce an existing or foreseeable infestation or infection. These measures are divided into:

  • Physical procedures: mechanical, thermal, optical and acoustic measures, e.g. B. Chopping weeds, hot water and hot air treatment of seeds, pest control through noises, reflective mulch pads
  • Biotechnical processes, e.g. B. culture protection nets, attractant traps and the release of messenger substances (pheromones) to reduce pairings
  • Biological processes: application of beneficial insects and beneficial microorganisms
  • Chemical processes: Application of plant protection products of natural or chemical-synthetic origin, e.g. B. as a spray or as a seed dressing

Decision-making bases play a critical role in plant protection planning. These include u. a .:

  • Economic damage thresholds from which the expected extent of damage significantly exceeds the costs of a plant protection measure
  • Predictive models for predicting the time and extent of an infection or infestation
  • Pollution control ( monitoring ) and damage assessment ( scoring ) through regular field inspections or trap systems, determination of pollutants using identification aids or examinations of soil and plant samples
  • Determination of the point in time when a plant protection measure is necessary and useful ( spray window )
  • Resistance management to prevent the resistance in plant varieties from being overcome by pests or that pests become resistant to pesticides

Integrated crop protection

The integrated plant protection is in Plant Protection Act defined as "A combination of methods, in which prioritizing biological, biotechnological, plant-breeding and cultivation and culture technical measures, the use of chemical pesticides is limited to the necessary degree." As a basis, preventive measures and knowledge-based decision - making bases should also be fully exploited.

Integrated pest management is now required by law in Germany and is part of good professional practice and the National Action Plan for the Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products (NAP).

Ecological crop protection

The ecological plant protection or plant protection in organic farming is legally defined by the EU organic regulation (EG-VO 889/2008) . It is based on the use of preventive measures as a matter of priority, in particular a diverse crop rotation, promotion of soil health, adapted plant nutrition and the protection of beneficial organisms for natural pest regulation.

If pathogens occur, they are regulated using physical, biological and biotechnological processes as far as possible. Only when these measures have been exhausted can farmers in organic farming fall back on a narrowly limited selection of plant protection products, the active ingredients of which are listed in a positive list in the appendix to the EU basic regulation. In addition, the Research Institute for Organic Farming and the cultivation associations provide lists of operating resources with pesticides that have been checked for their suitability for organic farming and the association guidelines. Mainly substances based on natural substances such as azadirachtin from the neem tree or pyrethrum , as well as the elementary substances sulfur and copper are permitted .

Since plant protection in organic farming relies to a large extent on biological and biotechnical measures, this is sometimes referred to synonymously as biological plant protection. However, this is more narrowly defined scientifically.

Biological plant protection

Under biological crop protection refers to the use or the use of living organisms (including viruses) and biological agents and principles. It includes the following measures:

  • Preservation and promotion of naturally occurring beneficial organisms
  • Spreading beneficial insects
  • Activation of the plant's own protective mechanisms by microorganisms
  • Use of pheromones (biotechnical processes)
  • The use of natural substances, organic or inorganic substances is sometimes counted as part of biological plant protection.

Since pheromones and microorganisms are defined as active ingredients according to the Plant Protection Act , these must also be approved as plant protection products. Larger beneficial organisms and pheromones that are only used for pest monitoring, on the other hand, are not considered pesticides. However, the use of alien species requires approval under the Federal Nature Conservation Act .

Biological plant protection is an essential part of integrated plant protection as well as ecological plant protection .

meaning

A variety of harmful organisms (viruses, bacteria, fungi, nematodes, insects, vertebrates, birds) can cause considerable damage to the crops and thus high yield losses. Extensive, worldwide estimates and surveys give z. B. for wheat the harvest losses in% of the potential harvest at 34%, for rice even at 51%. Plant protection is therefore of particular importance with regard to securing global food supply.

From an economic point of view, the prevention of yield losses and quality losses is particularly important in intensive crops, such as in vegetable, fruit and viticulture. The profitability of an operator can crucially depend on it.

The farmer or horticulturist can receive support in a variety of forms when planning and implementing crop protection according to good professional practice. The PS Act instructs the federal states and their plant protection service u. a. the following tasks: The monitoring of plant stocks and stocks of plants and plant products for the occurrence of harmful organisms, advice, education and training in the field of plant protection including the implementation of the warning service, also using our own investigations and experiments.

In addition to the official plant protection service, private advisors and consultants from the plant protection industry can also be used. Expert and forecast systems are available on the Internet that offer practitioners information on the targeted use of pesticides in crops.

Defense against "harmful birds"

The defense against "harmful birds", mostly starlings and blackbirds , is a special department of plant protection that works in particular with optical and acoustic methods: scarecrows, swinging and whirring kites and aluminum foil have a deterrent effect on the birds due to their similarity to objects that cause fear. through surprise effects and irritating fast movements. The safest (and most expensive) method is to net entire vineyards. The netting also provides protection against hail and partially against damage caused by wild animals. Firing devices and bird screaming devices drive the birds away with bangs, death screams from their own species or attacks from enemies. In the cost / benefit analysis, the event-controlled Wingertshut ( viticulture ) is to be seen as an effective, but at the same time tolerable (residents) and inexpensive type of bird control ; d. That is, field rangers observe the landscape and create sudden, isolated acoustic effects by means of blank shots from handguns or radio-controlled triggering of guns and bird cries, which drive the birds away when they are approaching and / or before they settle in a vineyard or orchard.

Methods that work with preventive (even if there are no birds at all), automated permanent sound, hardly have a scare away effect and at the same time lead to unpleasant effects on residents in the outskirts of the village near vineyards. Above all, habituation and undesired conditioning effects (luring because of the food supply) occur in the birds, which ultimately cause considerable damage again - despite extensive bird repellant. Such methods are therefore becoming less important and are increasingly meeting with resistance from local residents. Where they are still used, this is done in order to save the costs for field keepers or netting. However, in Section 7 (3) of the State Immission Control Act of December 20, 2000, bird control for Rhineland-Palatinate is regulated as follows:

“The operation of acoustic equipment and devices to keep animals away in vineyards or in other endangered agricultural cultivation areas, which can cause considerable annoyance to local residents, requires the approval of the competent authority. The permit should only be granted if the keeping away cannot be achieved with other proportionate means. "

A real damage rundown is ultimately not be reached by Bird in viticulture (except whole by complete Einnetzung regions), at best, a relocation or widespread distribution of loss events . The respective number of birds and their food requirements cannot be influenced by bird defense. Wherever grapes are grown over a large area, the birds prefer to access this almost inexhaustible food reservoir. Apart from the complete, regional network, bird control is therefore a measure in the context of competition between winemakers, which avoids accumulations of damage in certain places and redistributes it to many winemakers. The appropriateness and admissibility of such measures is controversial. There are currently (2006) no mutual insurances that could cover such risks for individual companies.

literature

  • Christian Kubik: Gardens without poison. Österreichischer Agrarverlag, Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-7040-2176-2 .
  • E. Meyer et al .: Herbalist's Pocket Book. 55th episode. Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster-Hiltrup 2007.
  • Th. Kock et al .: Gardener's plant doctor. 17th episode. Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster-Hiltrup 2007.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rudolf Heitefuss : Plant protection. Basics of practical phytomedicine. Thieme-Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, 3rd edition
  2. ↑ Rudolf Heitefuss, König, Obst, Reschke: Plant diseases and pests in agriculture . VerlagsUnionAgrar, o. Place 2000.
  3. ↑ Lukas Straumann: Useful pests . Chronos Verlag, Zurich, 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0695-0 , pp. 326–327
  4. ↑ Preventive measures . In: oekolandbau.de . December 2, 2016 ( oekolandbau.de [accessed June 20, 2018]).
  5. ↑ Integrated Plant Protection and National Action Plan - JKI - Federal Research Institute for Cultivated Plants. Accessed June 20, 2018 (German).
  6. ↑ Dr. Stefan Kühne: Organic farming - oekologischerlandbau.julius-kuehn.de. Retrieved June 20, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Dr. Stefan Kühne: Plant protection products in organic farming - oekologischerlandbau.julius-kuehn.de. Retrieved June 20, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Julius Kühn Institute (Ed.): Status Report Biological Plant Protection 2013 . doi : 10.5073 / berjki.2014.173.000 ( julius-kuehn.de [PDF]).
  9. ↑ Biological Plant Protection - JKI - Federal Research Institute for Cultivated Plants. Accessed June 20, 2018 (German).
  10. ↑ Oerke, EC, HWDehne, F. Schönbeck, A. Weber: Crop Production and Crop Protection - Estimated losses in major food and cash crops. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1994.
  11. ↑ Continuous sound as a method of bird defense / starling defense in viticulture http://www.starenabwehr.de/knol-google-volxheim.pdf
  12. ↑ http://www.starenabwehr.de Documentation of a dispute about preventive, automatic permanent sound as a bird defense in vineyards

See also

Commons : Pesticide application  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Web links