Ramon Albajes

Agrotecnio Centre for Research in Agrotechnology · Crop Protection

Knowledge of the insect densities during crop development is necessary for adopting appropriate measures for the control of insect pests and minimizing yield losses. Within integrated pest management programs, crop rotation has been carried out in recent years, but this current trend delays the planting period for Bt maize. The small amount of avai...

Knowledge of the specific insect densities during crop development is necessary to perform appropriate measures for the control of insect pests and to minimize yield losses. In a previous study, both spatial and temporal approaches were adopted to analyse the influence of landscape structure and field variables on herbivore and predatory insects on...

Conservation biological control involves manipulation of the environment to enhance the effectiveness of natural enemies in controlling crop pests. In this study, we combined historical data, sticky trap sampling of tomato greenhouses and beat sampling of adjacent vegetation to identify which greenhouse characteristics, habitat management practices...

We assess the effects of changing land use and crop management on alfalfa insect abundance by comparing it in 50 alfalfa fields when they were inserted in landscapes with different proportions of arable crops and orchards. Land use in a buffer of 500 m was assessed, and alfalfa insect abundance was estimated with sticky yellow traps. The number of...

El objetivo de este trabajo ha sido estudiar cómo influye la estructura del paisaje agrícola en la incidencia de los tres principales virus que afectan al maíz. Este conocimiento resulta fundamental para mejorar el programa de gestión integrada de enfermedades en el cultivo del maíz. Este artículo de divulgación es el resumen de dos artículos publ...

The official version of this FAO IPPC Secretariat (2021) scientific report is written in English. However, the report is also available in other UN-languages, including Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish (see above DOI link that directs you to the FAO homepage). x x x x x Abstract: Climate change continues to present challenges to life...

The Summary for Policymakers presents key findings of the scientific review, based on an assessment of available scientific literature relevant to evaluating the impact of climate change on plant pests and thus on plant health. It includes key messages of the main results and recommendations. The Summary for Policymakers highlights selected pests t...

Genetically modified (GM) maize has been cultivated commercially in Spain since 1998. Although long-term environmental monitoring to detect unexpected environmental effects of GM crops (General Surveillance, GS) is compulsory in the EU, GS currently has a very low capacity to detect adverse effects on the environment. This study aimed to increase t...

Maize with enhanced β-carotene production was engineered to counteract pervasive vitamin A deficiency in developing countries. Second-generation biofortified crops are being developed with additional traits that confer pest resistance. These include crops that can produce Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (Bt) insecticidal proteins. Currently, it is...

Maize rough dwarf virus (MRDV) is one of the main yield-limiting factors of maize in the Mediterranean. However, knowledge about the interactions between the agroecosystem and the virus–vector–host relationship continues to be limited. We used multi-model inference to test a landscape-scale approach together with variables measured in the field, an...

El objetivo de este trabajo ha sido estudiar cómo influye la estructura del paisaje agrícola en la abundancia de insectos herbívoros y sus enemigos naturales en el maíz. Este conocimiento resulta fundamental para mejorar el programa de gestión integrada de plagas en el cultivo del maíz. Este artículo de divulgación es el resumen de un artículo publ...

Viruses are a limiting factor in maize production areas around the world. The knowledge of the interactions between agroecosystems and the virus-vector-host system is limited, but a landscape-scale approach could help fill this gap. In this study, we show how the use of multiple spatial scales, i.e. 200, 500 and 1000 m, is a novel methodology for e...

Sixty years after the first theoretical formulation of the principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), its theory and practice have been building systems of increasing complexity that require the cooperation across disciplines. The evolution of the articles published on IPM in the last 50 years reflects, although timidly, the implication of an...

Understanding how populations of microbial pathogens and arthropod pests develop over time is critical for timely and effective intervention to control disease epidemics and pest infestations in agricultural production systems. Various elements including the pathogen or pest, host plant, natural enemies or competitors, environment, and human activi...

Bt crops have been grown commercially for more than two decades. They have proven remarkably effective in the control of target insect pests. However, Bt crops can become less effective under various forms of environmental stress. Most studies in this area have considered the effect of environmental stress on Bt insecticidal protein levels or targe...

The traditional agricultural landscape of Ebro Basin (NE Spain), which is mainly composed of alfalfa and cereal crops, has undergone changes in recent years, mainly consisting of an increase in the area occupied by intensively managed irrigated orchards. Recently, it has been reported that the presence of a higher proportion of orchards in the land...

Abstract Impacts of agricultural management practices on the receiving environment are seldom suitably assessed because environmental monitoring is costly. In this regard, data generated by already existing environmental survey networks (ESNs) may have sufficient capacity to detect effects. Here, we study the capacity of the Catalan butterfly monit...

This book represents a new, completely updated, version of a book edited by two of the current editors, published with Springer in 1999. It covers pest and disease management of greenhouse crops, providing readers the basic strategies and tactics of integrated control together with its implementation in practice, with case studies with selected cro...

Understanding how populations of microbial pathogens and arthropod pests develop over time is critical for timely and effective intervention to control disease epidemics and pest infestations in agricultural production systems. Various elements including the pathogen or pest, host plant, natural enemies or competitors, environment, and human activi...

La necesidad de cuantificar la pérdida de la diversidad biológica en los ecosistemas en todo el mundo se ha hecho evidente en las últimas décadas. Esta pérdida de diversidad y los cambios en la composición de las especies han alterado los servicios que los ecosistemas proporcionan a la humanidad. La evolución en el entendimiento de que las matrices...

En los capítulos 1.3. y 3.1. hemos pasado revista a la situación actual de la for-mación universitaria, no universitaria y formación continua en Sanidad Vegetal, así como a la necesidad de llevar a cabo mejoras de las mismas que permitirían superar las deficiencias y limitaciones identificadas y aprovechar las circunstan-cias ventajosas que se han...

1.3.1. La necesidad de formación universitaria y no universitaria especializada en Sanidad Vegetal En distintos capítulos del presente Libro Blanco sobre la Sanidad Vegetal en España, y especialmente en el capítulo 2.1, se subraya el alto porcentaje de la producción agrícola alcanzable que se pierde debido al conjunto de ataques en los cultivos por...

575 Capítulo 3.1. Mejoras en la formación universitaria en sanidad vegetal Jordi Recasens Guinjuan, Ramon Albajes García y Rafael M. Jiménez Díaz 3.1.1. Introducción En el capítulo 1.3 del presente Libro Blanco se ha realizado un análisis cuan-titativo de la situación actual de la formación en Sanidad Vegetal en España, con especial énfasis en la q...

Las interacciones tróficas, la estructura del paisaje, el manejo de los cultivos y los cambios constantes en las políticas agrícolas dificultan el estudio de los patrones de los insectos en los hábitats agrícolas. Investigaciones recientes dirigidas a comprender los efectos del incremento en la superficie de los cultivos sobre las especies, ponen d...

Slow establishment and risks of plant damage are major constraints for the use of the predatory mirid bugs that are commercially available for release in greenhouse crops. Therefore, a new interest has turned towards two predatory Dicyphus species (Heteroptera: Miridae) that have been investigated in the past but have not been used commercially in...

The composition of maize-surrounding landscape -including cover crop grasses- influences the incidence of viruses on that crop.

Reflexiones sobre el presente y futuro de la Sanidad Vegetal en España, en el marco de los retos de la agricultura Mírese desde el ángulo que se quiera, la agricultura europea en general y la española en particular se están viendo sometidas a cambios rápidos, a veces difíciles de predecir, que obligan a replantear muy a menudo las estrategias de pr...

We assessed the effectiveness of a biofortified maize line (4BtxHC) which accumulates high levels of antioxidant carotenoids that also expressed the insecticidal Cry1Ac Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) gene against the European corn borer Ostrinia nubilalis. This line had been previously engineered to accumulate carotenoids specifically in the seed endo...

The file contains data set needed to draw Figs 1–6 on the effects of the exposure of Ostrinia nubilalis larvae to different treatments. (XLSX)

Carolight® is a transgenic maize variety that accumulates extraordinary levels of carotenoids, including those with vitamin A activity. The development of Carolight® maize involved the technical implementation of a novel combinatorial transformation method, followed by rigorous testing for transgene expression and the accumulation of different caro...

La intensificación agrícola y la fragmentación del hábitat natural han dado lugar a un agroecosistema de composición y configuración homogénea en comparación con los hábitats naturales. Esto podría promover el aumento de las poblaciones de especies plagas más adaptadas a los paisajes homogéneos. Por el contrario, los agroecosistemas con una diversi...

The cultivation of crops with novel traits could interfere with ecosystem services delivered by arthropods through bottom-up effects. Here we tested the hypothesis that a vitamin enriched maize (Carolight R ) is similar in terms of plant-arthropod interactions to its wild type when compared in controlled environment and under field conditions. In o...

1. Biological control relies on the periodical colonization of crops by natural enemies from surrounding habitats. In North-East Spain, predatory Orius spp. disperse among cereal, maize and alfalfa according to crop phenology and management. 2. In the present study, we examined (i) the variation of Orius spp. and its leafhopper prey Zyginidia scut...

La publicación en 2009 de la Directiva de Uso Sostenible de Productos Fitosanitarios (2009/128/EC) y algo más tarde su trasposición a la legislación española mediante el Real Decreto correspondiente (RD 1311/2012) planteó formalmente la necesidad de definir y cuantificar la formación en materia de 'Medicina de los Vegetales' o 'Sanidad Vegetal' en...

Early colonization by Zyginidia scutellaris leafhoppers might be a key factor in the attraction and settling of generalist predators such as Orius spp. in maize fields. In this paper we aimed to determine whether our observations of early season increases in field populations of Orius spp. reflect a specific attraction to Z. scutellaris-induced mai...

Post market monitoring of GM crops is mandatory in EU states where they are grown commercially. Carabid beetles are very sensitive to environmental changes and may be used as indicators to monitor impacts of transgenic crops. This study aimed to assess which, where and when carabids should be sampled for improved postmarket monitoring. Carabids wer...

To assess risks of cultivation of genetically modified crops (GMCs) on non-target arthropods (NTAs), field tests are necessary to verify laboratory results and in situations where exposure pathways are very complex and cannot be reproduced in the laboratory. A central concern in the design of field trials for this purpose is whether the tests are c...

Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) is an important pest of tomato. Mass trapping of males has seldom proved an effective control measure, probably due to the pest’s reproductive biology. There are few studies on female mating behaviour. For this reason, this study aimed to determine female mating frequency and its effects on reproductive output and female lon...

Tritrophic interactions can be used to monitor environmental change as multispecies assemblage indicators. The choice of indicator or surrogate species and its characteristics has been widely discussed topic in Genetically Modified (GM) crops field monitoring trials. An indicator species or assemblage to be used in a monitoring program must (i) be...

This poster shows some results of butterfly adult and larvae sampling done in different maize growing regions in order to detect possible candidate species for monitoring effects of changing management practices of maize. In particular, these species could be used for the compulsory post market environmental monitoring of GM maizes.

In autoparasitoids, females are generally primary endoparasitoids of Hemiptera, while males are hyperparasitoids developing in or on conspecific females or other primary parasitoids. Female host acceptance can be influenced by extrinsic and/or intrinsic factors. In this paper, we are concerned with intrinsic factors such as nutritional status, mati...

In this presentation I explain how ground beetles were sampled and analysed in order to select potential indicators of changes in maize agroecosystems. It is a presentation following an article published the same year. The summary of the aerticle, shown in the presentation, is as follows: 1. In Spain, where GM maize is cropped commercially, adverse...

Abstract Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) is an important pest of tomato. Mass trapping of males has seldom proved an effective control measure, probably due to the pest’s reproductive biology. There are few studies on female mating behaviour. For this reason, this study aimed to determine female mating frequency and its effects on reproductive output and f...

The food production and processing value chain is under pressure from all sides—increasing demand driven by a growing and more affluent population; dwindling resources caused by urbanization, land erosion, pollution and competing agriculture such as biofuels; and increasing constraints on production methods driven by consumers and regulators demand...

Sesamia nonagrioides Lefèbvre (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a key pest of maize [Zea mays L. (Poaceae)] and a main target of Bt maize in the Mediterranean area. To choose the most suitable non-Bt refuge strategy for preventing or delaying resistance development in this maize borer, we examined its biology and behaviour. No antixenotic effects were fo...

When assessing the benefits and risks of transgenic crops, one consideration is their relative effects on non-target arthropod (NTA) abundance and functions within agroecosystems. Several laboratory and field trials have been conducted in Spain since the late 1990s to assess this issue. A consideration in the design of field trials is whether it is...

Maize with the insecticidal properties of the entomopathogenic bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner, known as Bt maize, has been sown in Europe since 1998. For several years, EU and Spanish regulations have required laboratory and field trials to assess risks of genetically modified crops for nontarget organisms prior to their authorization. T...

Field trials may be required to assess risks of genetically modified crops (GMCs) for nontarget arthropods. One critical point of these trials is their capacity to detect differences between the density of one taxon in the GMC and that in the comparator. The detection capacity of a trial depends on the abundance and variability of the taxon, the va...

As striking advances have been made in the last years to produce a range of biofortified GM crops with an increased level of nutrients, new approaches for environmental risk assessment on non-target arthropods have to be developed. In particular we focus on a new multivitamin maize developed at our university (Naqvi et al., 2009), producing an incr...

European Union (EU) agricultural policy has been developed in the pursuit of laudable goals such as a competitive economy and regulatory harmony across the union. However, what has emerged is a fragmented, contradictory, and unworkable legislative framework that threatens economic disaster. In this review, we present case studies highlighting diffe...

The Spanish Government has established post-market environmental monitoring (PMEM) as mandatory for genetically modified (GM) crop varieties cultivated in Spain. In order to comply with this regulation, effects of Bt maize varieties derived from the event MON810 on the predatory fauna were monitored for two years in northeast and central Spain. The...

The effects on the reproduction and nymphal development of the predator Orius majusculus Reuter (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) caused by feeding on Bt plant materials and on herbivore prey fed on Bt plants were examined in three experiments. First, to measure the effects of Bt maize plants on O. majusculus fecundity and fertility, nymphs were provided w...

Transgenic Bt maize expressing the Cry1Ab toxin is poorly effective for suppressing populations of two non-target Lepidoptera, Mythimna unipuncta and Helicoverpa armigera. In order to determine the mechanisms that may be involved in this poor effectiveness, last instar larvae of the two Lepidoptera were fed with a diet containing lyophilized leaves...

The codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is the key pest of pome fruits in many parts of Europe and its adult flights are routinely monitored by means of sex pheromone traps checked every week during the season. We analyzed the current pheromone trap spatial configuration of codling moth located in a study area of 160,000...

Though genetically modified (GM) crops have been rapidly adopted in world agriculture, concern has been expressed about the environmental risks that they may involve. In order to identify and measure the effects on NTOs (non-target organisms) of transgenic traits of crops such as Bt corn, which has been designed to kill target species, a tiered app...

Definition of the SubjectIn addition to producing food and fiber to satisfy an increasing world population, agriculture is being asked to supply energy at reasonable prices thus contributing to the acceleration of the demand for agricultural commodities. Increase of crop yields may be achieved by maximizing the proportion of sunlight energy that is...

Deployment of genetically modified (GM), herbicide-tolerant corn may alter weed flora abundance and composition and may affect pests and their natural enemies. Among on-plant predators, Orius spp. are the prevalent group in Spain and were selected to study the impact of glyphosate use on predators. We also studied Nabis sp. which is commonly record...

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn, Zea mays L., is highly efficient against the corn borer Sesamia nonagrioides (Lefèbvre) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) when the larvae feed only on the transgenic plants. However, when they feed on Bt leaves during only part of their development, thus ingesting sublethal amounts of Bt toxins, some larvae survive. A previ...

Weeds can directly affect arthropods by providing favorable microclimates, food, shelter, mating sites and oviposition substrates. Indirect effects on herbivores and higher trophic level arthropods can occur if weed species interact with each other and with crop plants modifying plant physiology, chemical and visual cues and competing for resources...

The sex ratio of the progeny of single females parasitizing large hosts favoured the females (sex ratio — 0.26); but on small hosts favoured the males (0.73). No differences in mortality of the sexes were detected. The sex ratio was independent of female age when large hosts were used. The percentage of males observed in the progeny of the first da...

In previous studies, we demonstrated cross-antagonism in pheromone perception between pheromone components of the two corn (Zea mays L.) borers Sesamia nonagrioides Lefèbvre (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) in the laboratory and in the field. The two pheromone components identified as responsible for...

It is widely agreed that integrated pest and disease management (IPDM) is the most sustainable approach for reducing crop yield losses due to arthropod pests and diseases, an aim shared by both agricultural ento-mology and plant pathology. IPDM combines several control methods in the most compatible way, taking in-to account the entire agroecosyste...

We strongly restate our criticisms of the report by Lövei et al. (2009). (1) They failed to account for the critical importance of well-described prey/host-quality mediated effects in the studies included in their analyses. Studies that failed to delineate toxicity of Bt proteins from poor prey quality should have either been eliminated from the an...

Coinciding with the deployment of Bt maize in the study area, but not necessarily due to it, populations of corn borers have decreased in the last few years, while the incidence of other aerial Lepidoptera, such as Mythimna unipuncta and Helicoverpa armigera, seems to have increased. In previous papers we showed that Z11-16 Ald, a Sesamia nonagrioi...

The effect of host and parasitoid densities on searching efficiency (a′) and progeny sex ratio of the parasitoid Opius concolor Szépl. was studied. The parasitoid exhibited a general decrease of a′ with increase of host and parasitoid densities. The mutual interference constant showed a decrease when the actual time spent on the sting unit was cons...

A seven-year study has been carried out in Lleida (NE Spain) to evaluate the relative occurrence of holocyclic and anholocyclic populations of Rhopalosiphum padi and Sitobion avenae and how this may determine their population dynamics and the BYDV epidemiology. Winter cereal, forage cereals and cereal volunteers were sampled in autumn, winter and t...

Several sympatric lepidopteran species feed on maize plants, and the different components of their species-specific female sex pheromones may play a role in attracting conspecifics and/or deter heterospecific males. In this study, we analyzed the content of Mythimna unipuncta pheromone glands and tested the response of males to components of their...

The relationships between predatory Heteroptera and their potential prey species were investigated during two crop seasons in an inter-mountain area close to the Pyrenees (Iberian Peninsula). Regression was used to analyze the potential numerical responses shown by heteropterans to aphids and other potential prey during alfalfa intercuts (the plant...