Does intercropping of small fruit make pests and diseases more manageable? (MULTICROPPING)

The interactions between pests and diseases and their host plants are much less static than what was thought for a long time. There is a continuous adaptation and evolution of the pests and diseases in function of the species and even the variety of the host plant. Adaptation and evolution is triggered by the selection of strains of the pest or disease that can bypass (sometimes subtle) differences in natural immune systems of different plant varieties and species and thus involves a continuous selection process. Homogeneous monocultures thus lead to adapted diseases and pests that have developed a higher fitness and degree of adaptation. As a result, the economic impact of diseases and pests is constantly increasing and their control becomes more difficult. Conversely, intercropping, the simultaneous cultivation of various crops on the same production field, also hinders rapid pest and disease development, making biological or physical control measures more effective. In this project we want to investigate whether intercropping in the case of small fruit can make pests and diseases more manageable. We hope that due to adaptation difficulties of a species (disease or pest) in an intercropping system, the disease pressure and the speed of pest development can be reduced, which also improves the effectiveness of biological and physical crop protection. The annual genetic fingerprints and the comparisons of the results obtained in small tunnels with those of practice companies make it possible to estimate the relevance of these observations, the speed with which they occur and the underlying mechanisms. The use of Prunus padus as a dead end trap plant for D. suzukii is a completely new development and can contribute to the sustainable suppression of the Asian fruit fly in soft fruit cultivation.