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Integrated pest management (IPM) is facing both external and internal challenges. External challenges include increasing needs to manage pests (pathogens, animal pests and weeds) due to climate change, evolution of pesticide resistance as well as virulence matching host resistance. The complexity of designing effective pest management strategies, which rely less heavily on the use of conventional pesticides, is another external challenge. Internal challenges include organizational aspects such as decreasing trend in budget allocated to IPM research, increasing scarcity of human expertise, lack of knowledge transfer into practice and the communication gap both at country level and between countries, and lack of multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary IPM research. There is an increasing awareness that trans-national networking is one means to overcome such challenges and to address common priorities in agriculture. A large number of stakeholders (researchers, policy makers, growers and industries) are involved in the sector of crop protection, which needs to be coordinated through effective communications and dynamic collaboration to make any IPM strategy successful. Here we discuss a decade-long IPM networking experiences in Europe emphasizing how IPM research, implementation and adoption in Europe may benefit from a broader level networking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relay intercropping of service legumes (living mulch) is a valuable agroecological practice to support nutrient availability, yield and non-chemical weed control in a crops sequence, if suitable legumes are chosen. This study tested the suitability of eight legume living mulches for relay intercropping in durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) evaluating their effects on the subsequent forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) in a Mediterranean low-input cereal-based cropping system. Legumes include perennial (Medicago sativa , Medicago lupulina , Trifolium repens , Hedysarum coronarium), annual (Trifolium incarnatum , Trifolium resupinatum) and annual self-seeding (Trifolium subterraneum , Medicago polymorpha) species. A plot experiment repeating two times a wheat-sorghum crop sequence, was carried out in Central Italy to assess the effects of relay intercropping of legumes on agronomical and economic performance of the associated wheat and subsequent sorghum. The legumes were undersown in the already developed durum wheat in late winter. They were maintained after wheat harvest and used as green manure by biomass chopping and plowing in the following spring at sorghum sowing time. None of the intercropped legumes affected N uptake or grain protein content of the companion wheat with respect to the control (wheat sole crop). In the spring before sorghum sowing, N input from legume biomass residues was assessed and it sensibly changed according to legume species, ranging from 1.2 (T. incarnatum) to 182 kg ha−1 (H. coronarium). The legume treatments significantly affected the N uptake in the subsequent sorghum and it ranged from 20.2 to 172.6 kg ha−1. Without the use of additional external nitrogen input, average sorghum dry biomass production preceded by H. coronarium (13.3 t ha−1), T. repens (11.8 t ha−1), T. subterraneum (11.0 t ha−1) and M. sativa (9.3 t ha−1) was in line with the productive level under conventional conditions. Biomass residues of M. sativa significantly reduced the total weed biomass in sorghum by 65% compared with the control. In sorghum, preceding legumes such as T. resupinatum and T. incarnatum promoted dicotyledonous weed growth. Hedysarum coronarium and T. repens were the best legumes for relay intercropping in the low-input wheat-sorghum crop sequence under Mediterranean conditions of this study according to agronomic and economic evaluation. These legumes were able to increase soil nitrogen content allowing to significantly reduce external nitrogen fertilization while optimizing sorghum production. When gross income is calculated at cropping system level, most legumes provide a positive economic balance. • Legume living mulches do not affect nitrogen (N) uptake of the co-cultivated wheat. • Suitable legumes can provide up to 182 kg N ha−1 in a wheat-sorghum crops sequence. • Suitable legume mulches support the sorghum yield without the need for fertilizers. • Living mulches maximized overall economic income in a wheat-sorghum crop sequence. • Hedysarum coronarium and T. repens provided the best agro-economic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pest control by natural enemies (natural pest control) is an important regulating ecosystem service with significant implications for the sustainability of agro-ecosystems. The presence of semi-natural habitats and landscape heterogeneity are key determinants of the delivery of this service. However, to date, synthetic and consistent indicators at large scales are lacking. We developed a pan-European, spatially-explicit model to map and assess the landscape potential to sustain natural pest control. The model considers landscape composition in terms of semi-natural habitats types, abundance, spatial configuration and distance from the focal field. It combines recent high-resolution geospatial layers with empirical results from extensive field surveys measuring the specific contribution of different semi-natural habitats to support insects flying enemies providing natural pest control. The resulting maps facilitate a comparison of the relative biological control potential of different areas and show that currently a large proportion of high-productive agricultural areas in Europe has low potential. The obtained indicator can inform the formulation of policies and planning strategies aimed at increasing biodiversity and ecosystem services and can be used to assess trade-offs between different services. Potential fields of application include the Common Agricultural Policy and the EU Biodiversity Strategy, in particular the implementation of Green Infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aroma fingerprints of seven endemic Sardinian populations of Genista species ( Genista bocchierii , Genista arbusensis , Genista cadasonensis , Genista corsica , Genista morisii , Genista pichisermolliana , Genista sulcitana ) were defined for the first time in order to investigate the relationship between their chemotaxonomic classification and discriminating volatiles. It is the first time that the inter-species compositional variations of non-terpenoidic constituents and target volatiles such as linalool, limonene, 2,6-nonadienal, 2-pentylfuran, ( E )-2-(2-pentenyl)-furan, ß -caryophyllene and caryophyllene oxide were related by Principal Components Analysis to the actual chemotaxonomic classification of the selected Sardinian Genista species. Although they are not considered marketable aromatic plants, these original results have shown the potential role of volatiles not only as new further important chemotaxonomic markers of Genista species, but also as potential ecological factors in the chemodiversity of some endemic Mediterranean Genista or, more in general, in vegetation changes and reforestation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]