Biological control in Cuba.

Abstract The first biological control project in Cuba concerned the introduction of the parasitoid Eretmocerus serius in 1929, resulting in successful classical biocontrol of citrus blackfly in citrus. The subsequent biocontrol success that is still in use on large areas today was obtained in the 1940s by mass rearing and releasing the native dipteran parasitoid Lixophaga diatraeae for control of the sugarcane borer. Nowadays, many native and exotic Trichogramma species are successfully applied against lepidopteran defoliators in the field. Other current augmentative biocontrol programmes involve the use of microbial agents, nematodes, parasitoids and predators for pest and disease management in various crops. A network of 175 mass rearing centres for entomophages and entomopathogens (CREE) and four industrial plants belonging to the Enterprise System of the Ministry of Agriculture, guarantee the mass production of native strains of microbial control agents, such as Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae, Lecanicillium lecanii, Bacillus thuringiensis, Trichoderma spp. and Heterorhabditis spp. Each year these microbial control agents are applied on about 2,400,000 ha of field crops. Conservation biocontrol practices to increase natural enemy populations and the promotion of natural reservoirs of Pheidole megacephala predatory ants, along with capturing and re-release of the coccinellids Cycloneda sanguinea, Coleomegilla cubensis, Hippodamia convergens and Chilocorus cactus L. in urban agriculture, are widely applied by farmers in Cuba.