Experts from Sri Lanka learn about Guizhou's green pest control technologies at a tea garden. [Photo/ddcpc website]

A delegation from Sri Lanka recently visited the tea garden in the Miao-Bouyei autonomous county of Ziyun, Southwest China's Guizhou province.

The delegation, consisting of Keerthi Mohotti, director of the Sri Lanka National Tea Research Institute, Professor Sarath Kodithuwakku, dean of the Agricultural College of Peradeniya University, and other tea experts and students from Sri Lanka, was particularly impressed by Guizhou's environmentally-friendly methods of pest prevention and control.

Insect and mite pests, including thrips, leaf beetles, weevils, and black citrus aphids, are damaging stressors threatening the cultivation of tea plants, resulting in enormous losses across tea gardens around the world.

However, none of these pests are found in the tea gardens in Guizhou, thanks to the utilization of a liquid containing entomopathogenic nematodes – natural pest control agents. As insect-specific parasites, entomopathogenic nematodes can rapidly kill their insect hosts, without posing harm to humans, livestock, crops or the environment. When hosts are scarce, the nematodes naturally die off.

The tea gardens are also intercropped with a variety of nectar plants such as cosmos, marigolds, Mexican sage, and clover, to control weeds and improve soil quality.

Adhering to the principle of “biological control”, Guizhou has long abandoned the use of glyphosate.

Hao Gefei, a professor at the National Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide, said that the laboratory has been cooperating with institutions like Peradeniya University in Sri Lanka for eight years, focusing on green pest control technologies targeting harmful organisms in tea gardens.

They are currently promoting the construction of a joint laboratory of green pest control technology in tea planting. In the near future, Guizhou's pest control technology system is expected to be widely applied in Sri Lanka.

Source: eguizhou.com