How Residual Fertility Impacts the Efficiency of Crop Pest Control by the Sterile Insect Technique.

The sterile insect technique (SIT) is a biological control technique based on mass-rearing, radiation-based sterilization that can induce fitness costs, and releases of the pest species targeted for population control. Sterile matings, between females and sterilized males, can reduce the overall population growth rate and cause a fall in population density. However, a proportion of irradiated males may escape sterilization, resulting in what is called residual fertility.

Self-financing model for cabbage crops with pest management.

Smallholder farmers rely on their farm earnings to cover operating costs and generate income. That is not an easy task because of the pests, which reduce yields and generate plant protection costs. The farm yield and plant protection depend on the budget capacity of the farmer.

Impact of ontogenic changes on the dynamics of a fungal crop disease model motivated by coffee leaf rust.

Ontogenic resistance has been described for many plant-pathogen systems. Conversely, coffee leaf rust, a major fungal disease that drastically reduces coffee production, exhibits a form of ontogenic susceptibility, with a higher infection risk for mature leaves. To take into account stage-dependent crop response to phytopathogenic fungi, we developed an SEIR-U epidemiological model, where U stands for spores, which differentiates between young and mature leaves.

Impulsive modelling of rust dynamics and predator releases for biocontrol.

Fungal diseases cause serious damages in crop worldwide. In particular, coffee leaf rust (CLR), caused by fungus Hemileia vastatrix attacks coffee leaves and reduces coffee yield. This paper presents a multi-seasonal model of the CLR development in the coffee plantation with continuous dynamics during the rainy season and a discrete event to represent the simpler dynamics during the dry season.

Improving sustainable crop protection using population genetics concepts.

Growing genetically resistant plants allows pathogen populations to be controlled and reduces the use of pesticides. However, pathogens can quickly overcome such resistance. In this context, how can we achieve sustainable crop protection? This crucial question has remained largely unanswered despite decades of intense debate and research effort.