BENEFICIAL INSECTS IN SUSTAINABLE PEST MANAGEMENT: ENHANCING ECOLOGICAL BALANCE IN AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS

Abstract

Sustainable pest management is crucial for reducing reliance on chemical pesticides and promoting biodiversity in agricultural environments. Beneficial insects, including predators and parasites, provide effective biological control; however, their implementation in open vegetable cropping systems at the field scale has not been sufficiently investigated, especially in South Asia. This study assessed the impact of beneficial insects on pest population reduction and yield enhancement in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) cultivation under field conditions. A comparative field trial was conducted at three agroecological locations in Punjab, Pakistan, spanning two cropping seasons (2022–2023). Two pest management strategies were evaluated: conventional pesticide-based control and a sustainable approach that included predator augmentation (Coccinella septempunctata and Trichogramma chilonis) and floral resource strips. Insect monitoring, crop damage evaluations, and yield data were collected weekly. Data analysis was conducted using repeated measures ANOVA and two-way ANOVA in SPSS version 28.0. The findings indicated that sustainable plots exhibited 58–67% reduced pest densities and markedly greater beneficial insect populations than conventional plots. Crop damage decreased by 9–11%, whereas marketable output increased by 10–14% under sustainable management practices. The results validate the concept that incorporating natural predators and ecological frameworks into pest management can efficiently mitigate pest populations and enhance productivity. This study identifies significant deficiencies in the field-level validation of biological control and offers region-specific evidence for its practical feasibility. These findings support the incorporation of beneficial insects into conventional Integrated Pest Management systems to reduce chemical use and enhance ecological resilience. Additional multi-seasonal studies are required to investigate predator-prey interactions, cost-effectiveness, and long-term sustainability within various cropping systems.