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Research

Context ans issues

• Intensive livestock of western France strongly rely on American soy importation for cattle food, environmentally and economically unsustainable
• Protein crops as pea, faba bean and lupine locally produced, are more sustainable alternatives to soybean but these crops often present variable yield between years, mainly due to the lack of efficient control of weeds, pathogens and pests
• Intercropping protein crops and cereals could be a way to secure yield and manage weeds, pests, and pathogens
• Concerning pests, in particular weevils and aphids, the aim is to define intercropping which could alter crop colonization by the pest or boost pest control by natural enemies
• We want first to describe the pest-natural enemies’ communities of these crops in western France, to study their population dynamics, the damages done, and the control strategies commonly applies by the farmers to identify levers of action
• Second we will investigate the impact of within crop diversification on pest colonization and on parasitoids attraction and parasitism efficiency to define efficient pest suppressing intercropping

Methodology

• Historical capture data and genotype analysis to describe the pest pressure in the context of climate change and land use variation
• Phytosanitary practices and damage observatory
• 2-year observation and capture campaign of pests and natural enemies on a farm network
• Chemical ecology studies of pests’ and natural enemies’ olfactory attraction to trophic resources
• Isotopic labeling of parasitoids’ resources exploitation and movements within intercropping plots

Partners

• UMR1349, IGEPP, INRAE – Agrocampus-Ouest – Univ. Rennes1 EGI and RA teams
• Université de Bretagne Occidentale – LUBEM 
• TERRES INOVIA
• Groupe ESA – UR LEVA Légumineuse, Ecophysiologie Végétale, Agroécologie
• Vegenov
• Lycées agricoles de Brehoulou, Saint Aubin du Cormier, Laval et La Roche sur Yon
• Chambres Régionales d’Agriculture Bretagne et Pays de la Loire et les 9 chambres d’agriculture départementales des 2 régions
• FREDON Pays de la Loire
• FR CUMA Ouest
• Fédération Régionale des Agrobiologistes de Bretagne
• Groupement des Agriculteurs Biologiques du Morbihan du Finistère et des Côtes d’Armor
• Agrobio35
• Terrena Innovation
• SA Pinault Bio
• Groupe d’Aucy-ID’Agri
• Triskalia
• Caliance
• CAVAC

Funding and Support

• European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) / Région Bretagne