Functional agrobiodiversity in apple orchards

Summary

Fruit growers often suffer economic losses due to insect damages. The available natural pest control products are not always effective; and for organic fruit growers options for direct control are relatively few. EcoOrchard, a CORE Organic Plus project (2015-18) tracked EU farmers knowledge of Functional AgroBiodiversity (FAB) and generated new knowledge in order to successfully use FAB in orchards by a joint field experiment across seven countries of perennial flower strips to assess impact on natural enemies, codling moths and yield. The project also established the BIONetwork as a European-wide network of stakeholders for collecting, sharing and improving scientific and practical knowledge and experience in FAB management, and developed simple FAB assessment tools for on-farm use by growers, so that they can better understand FAB effects in their ownorchar d; finally, partners used a participatory approach to learn about potential constraints that may hamper the adoption of innovative tools and how to solve these constraints by iterative reevaluation. Prevention of pest damage can reduce the need for direct control measures and the positive effect of floral diversification on natural enemy abundance and diversity is well documented also from orchards. Our review shows that fewer studies have linked this to effects on pests, and even fewer still to effects on yield, though this is the ultimate test seen from a production perspective. Still the few existing studies point to a positive effect on yield, and hereby corroborate our results linking increased abundance of natural enemies with reduced loss due to insect pests. Farmers already implement several techniques to favor FAB at different scales of their farm but have little knowledge and expectations about their benefit, and techniques for design, management and assessment tools such as the FAB-handbook provided, can further support its adoption and development.