Trunk Injection: A Discriminating Delivering System for Horticulture Crop IPM

Abstract

Trunk injection technology represents an alternative delivery system to provide crop protection for horticultural crops\rof commercial and smallholder farmers in the developed and developing world. Field studies, laboratory bioassays, and\rresidue profile analysis were used to determine the seasonal effectiveness of trunk injected insecticides against key\rapple insect pests. Insecticides formulated for trunk injection, imidacloprid, rynaxypyr, and emamectin benzoate were\rinjected into semi dwarf Empire apple trees and evaluated for a wide range of insect pests. Imidacloprid controlled\rpiercing and sucking pests, and emamectin benzoate controlled leaf rollers, Oriental fruit moth, and leafhoppers. The\rresidue profiles for insecticides showed that vascular delivery was predominantly to foliage, with fruit residues far below\rthe EPA maximum residue limits These results suggest that trunk injection is a promising delivering system for plant\rprotection materials for control of foliar pests, while minimizing impacts on natural enemies, eliminating spray drift, and\rreducing the pesticide load in the agro-ecosystem. For smallholder farmers this low-capital investment technology has\rthe potential to significantly reduce the human health risks associated with pesticide use, while protecting high value\rhorticultural crops from pests.