Is urban growing of fruit and vegetables associated with better diet quality and what mediates this relationship? Evidence from a cross-sectional survey.

Urban agriculture (UA), the growing of fruits and vegetables in urban and peri-urban areas, may improve food security and access, public health and dietary quality on both a broad and personal scale. However, there is little research on the relationship between UA and diet, and potential mediating factors are also unclear. This study aimed to investigate if proximity to and engagement with UA is associated with better diet quality, and what accounts for this relationship. UK-based adults (N = 583, 69% Female) completed measures of proximity to and engagement with UA, perceived access to fruits and vegetables, health and ethical food choice motivations, connection with nature, psychological distress and dietary quality in an online survey. Participants were recruited from UA-related groups and the general public. Proposed relationships were analysed using a structural equation model. Greater proximity to and engagement with UA was associated with greater perceived access to fruits and vegetables, more health-related food choice motivations, more ethical-related food choice, feeling more connected with nature, and, surprisingly greater psychological distress. Furthermore, proximity to and engagement with UA was indirectly associated with better diet quality via health-, and ethical-related, food choice motivations. While the direct pathway between proximity to and engagement with UA and diet quality was not significant, UA is associated with better diet quality, partly via healthier and ethical food choice motivations. Upscaling UA may have benefits for dietary quality via these factors, and more research is needed to test causal relationships and understand these complex interactions.

Decoding attraction: Improving vine weevil monitoring by exploiting key sensory cues.

BACKGROUND: Monitoring is an integral component of integrated pest management (IPM) programmes used to inform crop management decisions. Vine weevil, Otiorhynchus sulcatus F. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), continues to cause economically significant losses in horticultural crops due to an inability to reliably detect the presence of this species before crop damage occurs. To improve vine weevil monitoring we investigated the behavioural responses of adult vine weevils to visual (monitoring tool shade/colour, height and diameter as well as the effect of monitoring tool and plant density) and olfactory (host plant and conspecifics) cues under glasshouse conditions. RESULTS: Monitoring tool shade, height and diameter all influenced monitoring tool efficacy, with individuals exhibiting a preference for black, tall and wide monitoring tools. The total number of individuals recorded in monitoring tools increased with monitoring tool density. By contrast, plant density did not influence the number of individuals recorded in monitoring tools. Yew-baited monitoring tools retained a larger number of individuals compared to unbaited ones. Similarly, more vine weevils were recorded in monitoring tools baited with yew and conspecifics than in unbaited monitoring tools or those baited with only yew. Baiting monitoring tools with conspecifics alone did not enhance the number of vine weevils recorded in monitoring tools. CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirms that visual and olfactory cues influence vine weevil behaviour. This provides information on key factors that influence vine weevil monitoring tool efficacy and can be used to inform the development of a new monitoring tool for this pest. © 2023 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Optimising Vine Weevil, Otiorhynchus sulcatus F. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Monitoring Tool Design.

Vine weevil, Otiorhynchus sulcatus F. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is an economically important insect pest of horticultural crops. To identify an effective and reliable monitoring system for adult vine weevil, this study investigated the influence of colour, height and entrance position on the efficacy of a model monitoring tool using modified paper cups as refuges. Vine weevil preferences were determined by the number of individuals recorded within a refuge. When provided with a binary choice between black or white refuges, vine weevil adults showed a preference for black refuges. Vine weevils provided with a range of coloured refuges (blue, green, red and yellow) in addition to black and white refuges showed a preference for black and blue over the other colours and white refuges in group choice experiments. Refuge height and entrance position also influenced vine weevil behaviour with individuals exhibiting a preference for taller refuges and those with entrance openings around the refuge base. These results provide insights into refuge selection by adult vine weevils, which can be exploited to improve monitoring tool design. The importance of developing an effective monitoring tool for vine weevil adults as part of an integrated pest management programme is discussed.

Management of yellow dwarf disease in Europe in a post-neonicotinoid agriculture.

Barley/cereal yellow dwarf viruses (YDVs) cause yellow dwarf disease (YDD), which is a continuous risk to cereals production worldwide. These viruses cause leaf yellowing and stunting, resulting in yield reductions of up to 80%. YDVs have been a consistent but low-level problem in European cereal cultivation for the last three decades, mostly due to the availability of several effective insecticides (largely pyrethroids and more recently neonicotinoids) against aphid vectors. However, this has changed recently, with many insecticides being lost, culminating in a recent European Union (EU) regulation prohibiting outdoor use of the neonicotinoid-insecticide compounds. This change is coupled with the growing challenge of insecticide-resistant aphids, the lack of genetic resources against YDVs, and a knowledge deficit around the parameters responsible for the emergence and spread of YDD. This means that economic sustainability of cereal cultivation in several European countries including France and United Kingdom is now again threatened by this aphid-vectored viral disease. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on the YDV pathosystem, describe management options against YDD, analyse the impacts of the neonicotinoid ban in Europe, and consider future strategies to control YDV. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.