Pest Activity and Protection Practices: Four Decades of Transformation in Quebec Apple Orchards

摘要

Commercial orchards from Quebec (Canada) were followed for over 40 years to track patterns of activity of major fruit pests, fruit damage and impacts (environmental and financial) of pesticide applications. Some insects (as expected) were more prevalent in the insecticide-free orchard than in commercial orchards, while others were (surprisingly) more prevalent in commercial orchards or as prevalent in both orchard types. Annual fruit damage in the insecticide-free orchard was extremely high (as much as 98% for a single pest) and mostly from the apple maggot, the plum curculio and the codling moth. In commercial orchards, fruit damage was ten times less important and mostly from the plum curculio, the tarnished plant bug and the oblique-banded leafroller. The number of registered pesticides, the number of applications and the total cost of pesticides gradually increased from 1977 to 2019, while the environmental and health risks followed a downward trend for most pesticide categories. The historical trends presented here were likely modulated by external factors such as the pesticide regulatory framework, the arrival of non-native insects and climate change.