Vineyard auxiliaries

The populations of grapevine pests are more or less limited by enemies naturally present in the wine-growing ecosystem. These auxiliaries can consume adults of arthropods but also eggs, larvae or nymphs. Several categories of auxiliaries are differentiated according to their mode of consumption of hosts or prey. They are either predators which to ensure their development hunt or trap their prey or parasites and parasitoids which live or complete their development cycle at the expense of pests. Parasitoids can be insects, nematodes, fungi, bacteria, protozoa, or viruses. The auxiliaries form with the pests, the vines and the companion vegetation, complex trophic networks.

This section mainly offers you some knowledge about insects and arachnids useful in vineyard management, but also some data on other aids such as small animals (bats, birds) or parasitic fungi of pest insects.

In addition to information on each major type of auxiliary with some genera or species frequently encountered in the French vineyard, you will find information on their biology, and on how to promote their presence in the plots. Indeed, biological control by conservation is an approach aimed at favoring the enemies naturally present in the environment by preserving or improving their habitats through cultivation practices and landscaping. In some cases, biological flood control can be used by introducing little or no auxiliaries present, some of which are presented here.

The main auxiliaries that can naturally be found in the vineyard are presented to you in figure 1.

This section is largely inspired by the collective work edited by G. Sentenac (IFV), Auxiliary fauna of the vineyards of France , Eds France Agricole-Dunod, 2011.

Additional bibliography

Muneret L, Tolle P, Auriol A, Bonnard O, Richart-Cervera S, Thiéry D, Rusch A (2018) Deployment of organic farming in the vineyard. Impact on pest infestations and arthropod biodiversity. Union Girondine des Vins de Bordeaux , 1158, 57-61

SEBIOREF project (2017) Knowing the biodiversity useful to agriculture to reason its practices - Annual cycle of pests and auxiliaries in agricultural landscapes.