Currently plant protection aims to produce quality food, minimizing losses occasioned by pests, the presence of pesticide residues and their impact on the environment.
IRTA entomology team has extensive experience in pest management. Its staff, facilities and installations and knowledge of plant cultivation are available to companies, firms or institutions that want assess control agents, chemical, biological or biotechnical in all its stages of development.
Services
Efficacy trials of pesticides.
›› Evaluation of the efficacy and persistence of active ingredients and/or formulated.
›› Estimation of the efficacy evaluating mortality, reproductive capacity reduction and/or damage caused by pests on crops.
›› Field of study: laboratory, extended laboratory, semi field and field.
›› Assessment of potential phytotoxic effects on the plant.
Residual toxicity of pesticides on beneficial arthropods.
›› Lethal effects on adults and/or immature stages. Evaluation of mortality from pesticide residues in the plant.
›› Sublethal effects on female reproduction. Evaluation of fertility of females that were exposed to fresh residues, relative to control females.
›› Persistence of residual toxicity to adults and/or immature stages. Evaluation of the toxicity of the pesticide after 1, 3, 8, 21 and / or 30 days after application on the plant.
Efficacy tests of biological control agents.
›› Evaluation of the efficacy of releases in the field of natural enemies on pests.
›› Estimation of efficacy through assessment of mortality and/or pest damage on crops.
›› Assessment the feasibility of biological control agents and their quality control. Studies of dispersion, search capability, and predation and parasitism.
›› Type of study: laboratory, extended laboratory, semi field and field.
›› Assessment of potential competition or displacement among natural enemy species.
Pesticide application equipment.
›› Determination of the application parameters for pesticide treatments: speed, pressure, nozzle type, air flow rate, spray volume per hectare and droplet size.
›› Optimization of these parameters according to the plantation, type of pest and pesticide use.
Gep Efficacy Trials EOR 76/12.
›› IRTA is accredited to perform GEP efficacy trials by the Government of Spain, with official accreditation number EOR 76/12.
