Mira Rur

Research assistant Integrated plant protection V building +46 40 41 53 45 +46 0709 58 98 32 mira.rur@slu.se

Postal address Dept. of Plant Protection Biology  Box 102 SE-230 53 Alnarp Sweden Visiting address                         Delivery address Sundsvägen 14                           Växtskyddsvägen 3

Education

MSc in Horticulture, SLU. 2010

Research projects

Participatory development of integrated management strategies for pest insects in cucumber
The pest complex in cucumber includes several serious pests such as spider mite, thrips and the tarnished plant bug. In Sweden, the European tarnished plant bug, Lygus rugulipennis Poppius (Heteroptera: Miridae), is one of the most common pest within the genus (Rämert et al. 2001) and has been recorded attacking a wide range of cultivated crops including cucumber. The management of tarnished plant bugs in greenhouse relies on the use of the systemic compound Confidor WG 70 (imidacloprid). However, according to new EU directives, integrated pest management must be applied throughout the EU from 2014. This means that the use of chemical pesticides must be clearly justified, that the risks of leaching and occupational health problems must be dealt with and that new pest control methods must be developed. The current project will concentrate on the European tarnished plant bug, and only investigate the incidence of other pests in time and space. Together with growers, integrated control methods for the entire pest complex will be discussed and developed. Various approaches such as the use of trap crops, pheromone traps and entomopathogenic fungi will be explored.

Utilization of synergies between selective biodiversity and targeted crop rotation
We are investigating a system where two key pests of cabbage and onion (Delia radicum and D. antiqua) [Diptera:Anthomyiidae] are controlled using:

1. crop rotation to disrupt the lifecycles
2. semi-permanent selective flower/grass strips providing nectar resources and shelter in order to enhance populations of the parasitoid Trybliographa rapae [Hymenoptera: Figitidae] and generalist predators