Increasing production and reducing pests’ population while preserving the environment is an essential goal nowadays. New strategies are needed to achieve this goal, to bridge food gap and achieve food security. Quinoa is a promising crop and could partially substitute wheat in baked products and assist in overcoming wheat gap in Egypt. This study aimed to identify pests and their natural enemies in quinoa plantation, the population dynamics of both and the effect of compost and vermicompost fertilization on pests’ population and quinoa yield under field conditions. The study was carried out in El Giza Research Station of the Agricultural Research Centre—Egypt, from November till March, in two successive seasons, 2016/2017 and 2017/2018. The experiment was set up in a complete randomized block design. Variety Masr 1 was tested and yellow sticky traps were used to monitor insects’ numbers. Three main pests were detected: Aphis craccivora, Empoasca. decipiens and Bemisia tabaci. The most common pest was aphids followed by potato leafhoppers. Compost fertilized quinoa attracted fewer pests and resulted in less yield compared to vermicompost. Parasitoids appeared earlier than predators and their numbers were the highest throughout the two seasons. Pests’ and natural enemies’ peaks were determined to facilitate IPM interventions. It is recommended to use vermicompost in quinoa production rather than compost, as it increased yield, provided that an IPM strategy is implemented in which natural enemies are the main players. Further investigations are needed to understand the interaction between predators and parasitoids in quinoa field in order to maximize the benefit of their existence in IPM programs.
Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Wilid.) is one of the goosefoot family members (Chenopodiaceae) [
Egypt has an area of about 1 million km2, most of which is under arid and hyper-arid climatic conditions; only 3% is used in agricultural production [
Despite all these advantages, quinoa is attacked by a wide variety of insect pests that can cause damage during its different life stages and even in storage as stated by Oelke et al. [
Organic crops proved to be more tolerant/resistant to insect infestation [
The present study was carried out in El Giza Research Station affiliated to the Agricultural Research Centre (ARC)—Egypt. El Giza Governorate is located on the west bank of the Nile, 4.9 km southwest of central Cairo on 30.01˚N latitudes and 31.21˚E longitude. A soil analysis test was carried out in the Soil, Water and Environment Research Institute, ARC, to identify the soil properties in the experimental area. The analysis showed that the soil is clay with 36.3% clay, 37.6% silt and 26.1% sand. Percentages of organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were 1, 0.003, 0.001 and 0.03, respectively. Soil pH was 7.73 whereas EC, wilting point and field capacity recorded 0.5 ds/m, 20.2% and 43.8%, respectively.
The study extended from November till March, in two successive seasons, 2016/2017 and 2017/2018. Quinoa was sown on 20th of November of each season. Weather conditions including average temperature, average relative humidity, precipitation and average wind speed were daily recorded with the assistance of colleagues in the Central Laboratory for Agricultural Climate, ARC (
Two types of fertilizers were used, i.e. compost and vermicompost made up of plant wastes and cattle manure (in case of vermicompost the earth worm Eisenia foetida was used). Both fertilizers were provided by the Central Laboratory of Organic Agriculture (CLOA), ARC. Compost and vermicompost were incorporated in the soil before sowing quinoa at rates of 5 and 4 m3/feddan, respectively (1 feddan = 0.42 hectare).
Treatments were arranged in a complete randomized block design. There were
Season 2016/2017 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Months | Aver. wind speed [m/sec] | Aver. temperature (˚C) | Aver. relative humidity [%] | Precipitation sum [mm] |
November | 0.6 | 20.3 | 59.4 | 0.0 |
December | 0.5 | 14.7 | 61.4 | 0.0 |
January | 0.6 | 14.0 | 59.2 | 0.0 |
February | 0.8 | 16.1 | 57.6 | 0.0 |
March | 0.8 | 19.1 | 53.1 | 0.0 |
Season 2017/2018 | ||||
November | 0.7 | 20.4 | 57.6 | 0.0 |
December | 0.6 | 18.1 | 62.6 | 0.0 |
January | 0.7 | 16.2 | 57.1 | 0.0 |
February | 0.4 | 17.5 | 59.3 | 0.2 |
March | 0.6 | 21.2 | 48.0 | 0.0 |
Parameters and Minerals | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
pH | Fe (1:10) ds/m | OC % | N % | P % | K % | Ca % | Mg % | Moist % | Org. m. % | C:N | H2S | Ws | Nem. |
7.53 | 2.67 | 27.1 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 28 | 30 | 20:1 | - | - | - |
Ws = Weed seeds, Nem. Nematodes.
Parameters and Minerals | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
pH | EC (1:10) ds/m | OC % | N % | P % | K % | Ca % | Mg% | Moist % | Org. m. | C:N | H2S | Ws | Nem. |
7.7 | 1.3 | 40.2 | 2.4 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 30 | 68.4 | 17:1 | - | - | - |
Ws = Weed seeds, Nem. Nematodes.
three replicates for each treatment, i.e. compost, vermicompost, and untreated control. Each plot had an area of 21 m2 and consisted of 10 rows, every row measured 6 m long and 3.5 m width. Space between rows was adjusted to 60 cm; whereas, within-row spacing between plants was 20 cm. Quinoa grains, variety Masr 1, were provided by the Department of Maize and Sugar Crops, Plant Pathology Research Institute, ARC. After one month of cultivation quinoa plants were thinned to 2 plants per hill. All agronomic practices were maintained constantly when required. Manual weed control was carried out when necessary and quinoa was irrigated monthly during the whole season (4 irrigations). No fungicide or pesticide treatments were applied.
1) Pests, parasitoids and predators incidence
Yellow sticky traps measuring 45 × 25 cm were used to detect insects’ numbers attracted to quinoa crop under field conditions. Using sticky traps was encouraged by the low wind speed recorded during the experimental period as mention in
2) Grain yield measurements
Quinoa grains were harvested when about 95% of the plants reached maturation phase. Ten plants were randomly chosen from each plot, bulked and weighted. Grain yield/plot was measured and converted to Kg/ ha. In addition, a sample of 1000 seeds from the bulked seeds of each plot was weighed.
Data were subjected to one way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the treatment means were statistically differentiated by performing Least Square Means test (LSD) at p < 0.05 level using SPSS software.
Upon the collection of the sticky traps, they were transferred to the laboratory for identification.
Type | Common name | Scientific name | Order | Family |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pests | Black legume aphid | Aphis craccivora | Hemiptera | Aphididae |
Potato leafhoppers | Empoasca decipiens | Cicadellidae | ||
Silver leaf whitefly | Bemisia tabaci | Aleyrodidae | ||
Predators | Green lacewing | Chrysoperla carnea | Neuroptera | Chrysopidae |
Lady bug | Coccinella vicina Coccinella septempunctata | Coleoptera | Coccinellidae | |
Parasitoids | Green bug aphids parasitoids | Lysiphebus fabarum Lysiphebus testacoipes | Hymenoptera | Braconidae |
Aphids parasitoids | Bracon sp. | |||
Aphids parasitoids | Trioxys sp. |
1) Aphis craccivora
The black legume aphid was one of the pests found in large numbers on the yellow sticky traps in quinoa field. Aphids’ numbers fluctuated from December to March during the two seasons of the experiment in all the treatments, as illustrated in
February population, on the other hand, showed a slightly different trend in pest mean numbers where they decreased during the two periods of data collection. In compost treatments during the 7th and 21st of February, mean numbers of aphids recorded 149.7 ± 8.9 and 78 ± 3. Vermicompost recorded 177 ± 9 and 92 ± 3.2, whereas, aphids in control plots reached 182 ± 9.1 and 107.3 ± 3 in the two periods, respectively. Moreover, mean numbers continued to fluctuate again during the month of March where pest population increased on the 7th of March, then decreased on the 21st of March, as illustrated in
2) Empoasca decipiens
The potato leafhopper, Empoasca decipiens, did not appear in quinoa field till the last week of January, where its mean number in compost plot recorded 5.3 ± 1.8 and increased in vermicompost and control treatments to reach 20 ± 2 and 25 ± 1, respectively. ANOVA test showed that there was a high significant
difference between treatments where p = 0.001. During the month of February, on the 7th, population of E. decipiens increased to reach 17.7 ± 4, 26.7 ± 3.8 and 37 ± 3.84 in compost, vermicompost and control treatments, respectively. Two weeks later the numbers increased up to 42.3 ± 3.6, 41.7 ± 4 and 68 ± 3.61, in the three treatments, respectively. High significant differences were noticed in both dates, where on the 7th of February p < 0.001 and on the 21st no significant differences were found between compost and vermicompost (p = 0.3) whereas, control results and both fertilizers showed high significant differences as p = 0.003. Only one peak occurred during quinoa growth which was on the 7th of March where numbers of E. decipiens increased as illustrated in
3) Bemisia tabaci
Whiteflies appeared early in quinoa crop (in December) where mean numbers of the pest on the yellow traps recorded zero, 5.3 ± 1.5 and 8.3 ± 0.5, in compost, vermicompost and control plots, respectively, with High significant differences between the three treatments, where p < 0.001. As shown in
collection after two weeks showed that B. tabaci disappeared from the field completely and then after another 14 days it appeared again recording mean numbers of 12.3 ± 2.5, 29 ± 3.6 and 28.3 ± 3 in compost, vermicompost and control plots, respectively, and this date (Jan. 23rd) represents the first peak of the pest population. High significant differences were noticed between compost on one hand and vermicompost and control on the other hand, where p < 0.001, while no significant differences appeared between control treatment and vermicompost (p = 0.7).
On February 7th mean numbers of the pest decreased to 3.3 ± 1.2, 8.3 ± 1.5 and 20.3 ± 1.6 in the three treatments, respectively. Mean number of whiteflies did not increase significantly when results were recorded 14 days later, whereas on the 7th of March pest’s mean number increased up to 13.7 ± 2, 31.3 ± 2.2 and 30.7 ± 2.5 in compost, vermicompost and control treatments, respectively, showing the second peak of the pest population. One way ANOVE test revealed high significant differences between quinoa fertilized with compost and quinoa in control and vermicompost plots where p < 0.001. Whereas, both vermicompost and control plots did not show any significant differences as p = 0.8. Finally, on the 21st of March numbers of the pest declined again to reach 11.6 ± 2.1, 17 ± 3.6 and 20.3 ± 1.5, respectively.
Two types of predators were detected in quinoa field, i.e. the green lacewing Chrysoperla carnea and the ladybugs Coccinella vicina and Coccinella septempunctata. Numbers of predators were very low compared to the number of pests, as shown in
Two weeks later, no ladybug individuals were found on the yellow sticky traps, whereas the green lacewing recorded mean numbers of 3 ± 1.7, 5 ± 1 and 12 ± 1.5, in the three treatments, respectively. One way ANOVA showed significant differences between all treatments (p ≤ 0.001). Both predators disappeared again during the next two weeks and started to reappear on the 21st of February. C. carnea recorded 0, 4.3 ± 1 and 5.3 ± 2, whereas Coccinella spp. mean numbers increased up to 4 ± 1, 10 ± 0.9 and 2.7 ± 1.1, in the three treatments, respectively (as illustrated in
On the other hand, results of the ladybug on the two data collection dates of March were closed to each other, as shown in
All the parasitoids detected in quinoa fields were aphid’s parasitoids, i.e. the green bug aphid’s parasitoids (Lysiphebus fabarum, Lysiphebus testacoipes), Bracon sp. and Trioxys sp. Those parasitoids appeared in quinoa field on the 23rd of December recording mean numbers of 14 ± 1.7, 20.8 ± 2 and 30.6 ± 3.7 in compost, vermicompost and control plots, respectively. High significant differences appeared by ANOVA test as p ≤ 0.001. Mean numbers decreased when data were collected 14 days later as shown in
Results showed that the yellow sticky traps in the plots fertilized with compost caught the least numbers of insects during the two seasons. As shown in
Numbers of predators in the field were not high compared to the parasitoids where total average number of parasitoids was 12, 19 and 25 in compost, vermicompost and control treatments whereas predators numbers did not exceed 6 individuals in their highest presence as shown in
Fertilization, either vermicompost or compost, had a positive effect on quinoa yield/plant compared to control plot. The analysis of variance of data revealed high significant differentiation between both fertilizers and the control treatment (p = 0.4) whereas no significant difference was noticed between the two fertilizers. Both fertilizers resulted in seed yield of 27 ± 1.9 and 26.4 ± 1 gm. plant, respectively, whereas control plants gave yield of 23.6 ± 1.4 gm. plant, as shown in
Further, 1000 seeds weight reached in case of vermicompost plots 467.4 ± 39 gm. while control treatment gave the least weight, i.e. 363.25 ± 41 gm. and compost fertilized plants gave 1000 seeds weight of 353 ± 30 gm. as illustrated in
On the other hand, vermicompost showed higher yield values per ha compared to both compost and control plots, i.e. 843 ± 90, 801 ± 92 and 771 ± 92 Kg/ha, respectively (
differences between vermicompost yield and both control and compost (p = 0.86), whereas compost and control plots showed no significant differences (p < 0.001).
Food security is one of the main challenges in Egypt, despite the availability of different natural resources; agriculture did not achieve the sufficient production increase to meet food demand, which in return increased food gap [
Two main questions are important to answer in the context of the current study:
Reaching high yielding production occurs through good nutrition management. Several researchers discussed the importance of organic fertilization in improving plant health. Organic fertilization keeps soil moisture as organic matter improves soil water-holding capacity and increases water and nutrients availability for plants which in return gives strong and healthy crops with high production rates and less pests’ infestation, something that is not provided by synthetic fertilization [
Egypt has huge wheat gap, as the total production of wheat grains covers only 55% of the Egyptian needs and therefore, it is extremely necessary to search for suitable alternatives that could be integrated in making wheat flour bread to overcome the wheat gap and satisfy consumers’ needs [
Considering the above mentioned issues and as quinoa is a new crop in Egypt, more efforts are needed to raise awareness about all aspects related to quinoa’s cultivation. The current study investigated the effect of compost and vermicompost on quinoa yield, pests’ and natural enemies’ incidence and population dynamics.
No specialized quinoa pests were found, rather, polyphagous pests were detected together with generalized natural enemies. This finding is in accordance with what Rasmussen et al. [
Several authors mentioned the association of Aphis spp. in quinoa fields, i.e. [
It was noticed that aphids peaked twice during quinoa growth season, i.e. 23rd of January and 7th of March; these results are in conformity with Ya' bar et al. [
It is noteworthy that the present investigation provides basic information on seasonal incidence of whitefly on quinoa crop, as no data was found in the literature concerning this issue; rather the pest population was studied on many other crops. In the current study whiteflies peaked two times, i.e. 23rd January and 7th March (the same dates of aphids peaks). This confirms the findings of Yadav et al. [
The present study is also considered as first attempt that broadens our knowledge on the dynamics of potato leafhoppers on quinoa crop. It was proved that this pest peaked one time only during quinoa growth season; on the 7th of March. This might be due to the increase in temperature and decrease in the relative humidity (19˚C and 53%) compared to the other months. A similar belief was expressed by Naseri et al. [
The current investigation proved that although compost and vermicompost showed direct effect on the mean numbers of pests attacking quinoa crop under the experimental condition, yet, the date each pest peaked did not change from one fertilizer to the other.
Likewise, this research demonstrated that pests found in organic fertilized quinoa plots are low in numbers compared to those in unfertilized plots. Altieri and Clara [
Parasitoids and predators were present in quinoa field. Four species of parasitoids were detected, i.e. Lysiphebus fabaru, Lysiphebus testacoipes, Bracon sp. and Trioxys sp. whereas, predators were represented by the existence of two families, i.e. family Chrysopidae: Chrysoperla carnea and family Coccinellidae: Coccinella vicina and Coccinella septempunctata. It was noticed that parasitoids peaked two times; January, 23rd and March, 7th which happened to be the same peak dates of aphids, grasshoppers and whiteflies. On the other hand, although predators were few in numbers; they peaked twice as well. Results verified that parasitoids appeared much earlier than predators and their mean numbers in the field were higher than predators in all treatments, although their numbers were less in compost treatments than both vermicompost and control plots; that might be attributed to the decrease in pests’ numbers in compost treatments. The superiority of parasitoids over predators in the current investigation might be assigned to their early appearance in the field which allowed their early parasitism that led to reduction in predation rate and consequently predators’ numbers. This explanation is supported by the findings of Tan et al. [
Results showed that using compost and vermicompost enhanced crop yield (seeds/plant, weight of 1000 seeds and yield/ha). Yet, vermicompost resulted in more yield when compared to compost and control. These results are in accordance with many researchers; Islam et al. [
In a country characterized by a desert area that exceeds 90% and limited water resources, tolerant crops are needed. Through the current work it is concluded that:
· Quinoa is a promising solution to bridge wheat gap production in Egypt.
· Organic fertilizers can be the key to increase productivity and decrease pests’ infestation in quinoa.
· Vermicompost is more effective in raising quinoa yield than compost although quinoa fertilized with it attracted more pests; therefore, an integrated pest management approach should be implemented to overcome this point in which natural enemies should play the main role, especially now that we know their peaks dates which is a good start for IPM interventions.
· More efforts should be made to raise farmers’ awareness of vermicompost importance and efficiency and the community acceptance to quinoa as wheat alternative or supplement.
Thanks are due to Dr. Atef Abdel Azez, Director of the Central Lab of Organic Agriculture, for providing the organic fertilizers used in this work. The author appreciates very much the assistant of Dr. Mohamed Kamal, Dr. Azam Ahmed and colleagues from the Plant Protection Research Institute for providing the sticky traps and identification and counting of insects. I would specifically like to thank Prof. Dr. Hashem Ibrahim for the help he offered during the statistical analysis of this research. Thanks are also due to Miss Rehab El Sayed for her kind assistance during the implementation and data collection of this research.
The author declares no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
Adel, H. (2020) Towards Expanding Quinoa Cultivation in Egypt: The Effect of Compost and Vermicompost on Quinoa Pests, Natural Enemies and Yield under Field Conditions. Agricultural Sciences, 11, 191-209. https://doi.org/10.4236/as.2020.112012