Introduction
Dear Colleagues,
It is with great pleasure to announce the next meeting of the Integrated Protection of Olive Crops meeting. The general aim of this meeting is to bring together researchers, students and company representatives dealing with all aspects of olive tree protection. The meeting will start the evening of Sunday, May 15, with a light refreshment mixer, followed by 4 days of sessions which will include a tour of historic Jerusalem and a professional tour (see the schedule below). Oral and poster presentations will be given and ample time allocated for presentations and discussions. Short papers of the presentations will be published in the IOBC/wprs Bulletin.
Jerusalem is like no other city on earth. Besides being the capital of the State of Israel, it is holy to the world's three major monotheistic religions, and, in a special sense, Jerusalem belongs to the whole world. A thriving modern metropolis with a 3,000 year-old history, this venue was chosen so that all participants will have the opportunity to meet and interact with each other on a personal basis. The organizers hope that the scenic and historic environment will be a source of inspiration for stimulating scientific discussions.
We are looking forward to seeing you in Israel.
- Convenor:
- Dionyssios Perdikis
- Organizing committee:
- Phyllis Weintraub
- Leah Tsror
- Einat Zchori-Fein
- Miriam Silberstein
- Shimon Lavee
- Fathi Abedelhadi
Structure of the International Organization for Biological Control/West Palaearctic Region Section
Historically IOBC started in 1955 as a global organization affiliated to the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). Later it proved practical to form regional sections in addition to the Global IOBC. At present, IOBC-Global includes six regional sections.
Aims and Objectives of IOBC/WPRS
IOBC/WPRS promotes the use of sustainable, environmental safe economically feasible socially acceptable control-methods of pests and diseases of agricultural and forestry crops. Therefore IOBC/WPRS encourage collaboration in the development and promotion of Biological and Integrated Production systems.
IOBC/WPRS fosters research and practical application, training and information, especially of biological methods of control, but also of all methods, including chemicals, within an integrated pest management context.
IOBC/WPRS elaborates guidelines for integrated production of agricultural crops, develops and standardizes methods of testing effects of pesticides on beneficial species.
IOBC/WPRS offers presentation platforms (workshops, symposia, proceedings, publications) to scientists involved in research to ameliorate agricultural crop production using methods and strategies in agreement with overall goal of IOBC.
IOBC/WPRS helps implementing scientific knowledge into the advising and executing biological and integrated production.
In the fulfillment of its objectives, WPRS collaborates with other international organizations, notably FAO, WHO, the Commission of the European Union (CEU) and the European Plant Protection Organization (EPPO). Special emphasis is placed on contacts with CEC whose activities since 1979 have included programs with similar objectives.
Organization of the Working Group "Integrated Protection of Olive Crops"
The group was initiated as a Study Group in 1991, it was reestablished in 2002, when the organization of the 1st European meeting was committed to Dr Argyro Kalaitzaki by the IOBC/WPRS Council. This Meeting was held in Chania, Greece, 29-31 May 2003. In September 2003, the IOBC/WPRS Council decided to transform the Study Group into Working Group and endorsed the election of Dr A. Kalaitzaki as convenor. After that, 3 meetings followed. The first in Florence, Italy, 26-28 October 2005 (Chairperson Professor Antonio Belcari), the second in Bragança, Portugal, 10-12 October, 2007 (Chairperson Dr José Alberto Pereira), and the most recent one, in Córdoba, Spain, 1-4 June, 2009 (Chairperson Dr Enrique Quesada Moraga). In the Meeting of Cordoba, Dr Dionyssios Perdikis was elected as a new convenor of the WG.
Aims & objectives
The main goal of our group is to promote collaboration in multidisciplinary research on the development, evaluation and implementation of integrated control strategies for olive pests and diseases. An important priority is the exchange of knowledge and the main ultimate target is to minimize the impacts of crop protection on the environment, increase sustainability and also to support the production of higher quality products.
In more detail the main research activities concern:
- sampling methods, monitoring, epidemiology
- damage assessment, establishing of economic thresholds
- bio-ecology of pests
- development of pest population models
- side effects of pesticides
- natural enemies, biological control
- biotechnical control methods
For more information please go to the IOBC homepage http://www.iobc-wprs.org and http://www.iobc-wprs.org/expert_groups/index.html.
Olive Heritage
Olive trees are native to the eastern Mediterranean basin and it is here where they were domesticated over 6000 years ago. In fact Israel is described as a “..land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey…” (Deuteronomy 8:8). Many cultural aspects and symbols related to olives started in this region, too. Most notably, in Biblical times, after the Flood, Noah let a dove loose and she returned with a newly plucked olive leaf (Genesis 8:11) – an enduring symbol of peace until today.
What of olives in Israel today?
Israelis love olives and olive oil but only produce about half the amount needed to satisfy the domestic oil market. There are currently about 20,000 hectares in production; most are grown under traditional agriculture techniques, primarily with Souri variety, with 100-200 trees / ha. and rely on rainfall. Yield under these conditions is about 500 kg of oil/hectare. About 10% of the production area is for table olives, the primary variety is Manzanilla and about 80% of local consumption is satisfied by domestic production.
Irrigation systems are being developed primarily using brackish and recycled water, which allows planting olive groves in areas where they did not traditionally occur and increasing oil yields . In addition to developing new land under olive production, irrigation techniques have also allowed intensive planting. In groves where trunk shaking is used to harvest olives, the trees (mainly Barnea, Picual, Souri and Leccino varieties) are planted more densely at 350-600 trees / ha. More intense agriculture techniques include the planting of hedge rows where trees (mostly Arbequina and Koroneiki varieties) are planted at density of 600- 1250 trees/ ha. These are harvested with the typical grape harvester passing over the trees. Yields under intensive cultivation conditions are typically 2000 kg oil/ha. All 115 olive presses in Israel are modern and produce primarily extra virgin olive oil. The most dramatic effect of intense production methods is increased pests and diseases.
Areas of olive research today
Barnea variety was developed in Israel about 20 years ago and is now found in most growing areas world-wide. We are working on developing other varieties especially with resistance to various diseases and suitable for intensive culture methods.
An area of intensive research deals with all aspects of waste water and mill byproducts, such as pomace, which are environmental pollutants. Using waste water against agricultural weeds, and byproducts for compost, heating logs from olive pits, etc. are some of the topics currently being studied.
Although Israel exports little, a boutique olive oil industry is budding.
The primary pest of olives in Israel is the olive fly, Bactrocera oleae, and the main efforts in plant protection are made toward the reduction of pesticide use. To this end, a number of traps for both monitoring and mass trapping the olive fruit fly are being developed, evaluated and improved; exotic parasitoids were imported and are being released throughout the country and pilot experiments with sterile insect technique are on the way.
The primary disease of olives in Israel is Verticillium wilt caused by the fungal pathogen, Verticillium dahliae. Economic damage has increased due to extensive irrigation and planting new orchards on infested soil previously cropped with susceptible hosts such as potato and cotton. Several areas of research are underway to control this pathogen: studying epidemiology of the disease under semi-arid or arid regions, testing tolerant olive varieties, use of mychorrhizae for better nursery plant establishment, and pre-planting treatments with fungicides and other biological control agents.
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