Besides medical and veterinary entomology, research in agricultural entomology is also central to the one health concept

Source Agritrop Cirad (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/600866/)

International audience

anglais. Agricultural entomology is concerned with the harmful and beneficial effects of insects on crops. Here we review the effects of crop protection practices targeting insect pests on human infectious diseases. Only few studies credit the reduction in vector-transmitted human diseases, to insect vector (IV) control by agrochemical practices using synthetic insecticides. Conversely, many studies highlight the link between such practices and insecticide-resistant populations in IVs. Chemical treatments may also ultimately favor IVs by negatively affecting their natural enemies. On the other hand, the use of biopesticides and insect barriers, as substitution-based alternatives against insect pests, limits the risk to select resistant populations in IVs. Agroecological strategies such as crop-livestock (e.g. duck-rice) integration with an objective of insect pest control, may have a mixed impact on viral zoonotic (VZ) disease (e.g. avian flu) outbreaks. Conservation biological control practices such as the enhancement of weaver ants in tropical orchards, help to reduce fruit pests, and generally have a positive impact on regulation of VZs. Conversely, food resources provided to beneficials (predators and parasitoids) by flower strips or permanent vegetation cover in or around crops, can also promote some IVs (e.g. mosquitoes). Similarly, trap plant borders and repellent intercrops used to protect cereal crops from Lepidopteran stem borers in push-pull systems, may serve as habitats to rodents potentially reservoirs of VZs, bacterial or parasitic diseases. Research in agricultural entomology, which both contributes to Plant Health and may alleviate infectious disease risks, is therefore central to the “One Health” concept.