Centre for Biological Control, CBC

Cassandra investigates climate change impacts on predators and pest control services

Cassandra Vogel started her two-year post doc at SLU in May 2023. She will investigate how resilient natural enemies and their pest control services are to disturbances. The aim is to contributes to

Ramesh wants to use biocontrol for more resilient agricultural systems

Ramesh Vetukuri is the newest researcher at the SLU Centre of Biological Control, CBC. His specialty is novel and sustainable methodologies to enhance plant yield, while effectively managing disease

Political deafness may impede transition to biological control

The EU Commission has proposed a new Regulation on the sustainable use of plant protection products. One of its goals is that chemical control has largely been replaced with biological control not

Crop protection futures in agriculture-en

Crop protection futures in agriculture futurefood@slu.se Crop production is the vital basis for our food system, but the current set up is highly dependent on inputs of chemical pesticides and

Beneficial fungus can save strawberries from grey mould

Grey mould causes great yield losses to strawberry farmers, retailers, and consumers. However, the beneficial fungus Aureobasidium pullulans is a promising biocontrol agent which can mitigate this

Help us sample wild strawberries!

Wild strawberries grow across almost all of Europe and are constantly exposed to microbial pathogens which may cause plant diseases. We need your help collecting wild strawberry plants to investigate

Clover in oat fields supports pollinators and suppresses weeds

Intercropping of cereals with legumes such as clovers hold great potential to create more biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural fields. The undersown plant mixtures can be tailored to

Plant protection awareness

Plant protection is a hot topic of discussion in Europe at the moment, as the EU recommends that the amount of chemical pesticides be reduced by 50% by 2030. Related to this, SLU arranges an open

Biological control of septoria tritici blotch in wheat

Sidhant Chaudhary will give a seminar on biological control of septoria tritici blotch in wheat on the 27th of April, 1 pm at Ultuna. Septoria tritici blotch in wheat, caused by the fungal pathogen

Beneficial fungi can protect coffee plantations against serious plant disease

Coffee wilt disease cause great harvest losses in Ethiopia. Now, researchers from SLU and Ethiopia have developed, formulated and evaluated a range of biofungicides against the disease in the lab, in

Integrated pest management needs better implementation to provide ecological advantages

In its current form, integrated pest management (IPM) is not enhancing ecosystem services such as biocontrol potential or reducing disservices such as herbivore pressure when compared with

The invasive Spanish slug is attacked by parasitic worms

For the first time, a survey of slug-parasitic worms was conducted in Sweden. Parasitizing worms could potentially reduce the size of slug populations that cause yield losses in agriculture, such as