Synergizing inoculative and conservation biological control strategies for pest management in subtropical Mediterranean woody crops: plant species selection for ecological infrastructures

Abstract: Inoculative biological control strategies have proven effective in managing key pests
in protected crops. However, their successful implementation in open field crops faces several
challenges. These agroecosystems often feature highly simplified landscapes that hinder the
establishment of released natural enemies. The lack of alternative food resources forces them
to abandon the crops. Within the framework of the “SABIOCONTROL” research project, our
hypothesis is that managing the provision of alternative food resources at specific times of the
season can facilitate the development of preventive inoculative biological control programmes, improving the regulation key crop pests. As an initial step, this work proposes a list of candidate native herbaceous and shrubby plants that are attractive to natural enemies. These plants selected on the basis of botanical, entomological and technical criteria, will serve as key milestone in the design of functional ecological infrastructures.