Efficacy of long-lasting insecticide-incorporated netting in controlling preharvest and postharvest pest insects: A meta-analysis study

Authors: RANABHAT, SABITA - Kansas State University; ALTUNÇ, YUNUS - Ordu University; ATHANASSIOU, CHRISTOS - University Of Thessaly; ZHU, KUN YAN - Kansas State University; Morrison Iii, William

Submitted to: Entomologia Generalis
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/22/2024
Publication Date: 12/12/2024
Citation: Ranabhat, S., Altunç, Y.E., Athanassiou, C.G., Zhu, K., Morrison Iii, W.R. 2024. Efficacy of long-lasting insecticide-incorporated netting in controlling preharvest and postharvest pest insects: A meta-analysis study. Entomologia Generalis. 44(6):1441-1458. https://doi.org/10.1127/entomologia/2024/2743.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1127/entomologia/2024/2743

Interpretive Summary: Long-lasting insecticide-incorporated netting (LLIN) is a novel tactic to manage insects and reduce damage by pests in agriculture. Despite its implementation in pre-harvest agricultural settings (e.g., vegetables and fruit) in 2006 and in post harvest settings (e.g., grain and flour) in 2013, no study has yet analyzed the results of all of these studies together to determine their efficacy in multiple agricultural systems or identify knowledge gaps. Thus, we combined the results of these previous studies and analyzed the direct impact of LLIN on mortality and on mobility and behavior, using literature published between 1990–2024. Netting incorporated with different insecticides inflicted similar direct mortality in 19 out of 23 insect species and had similar efficacy in pre- and post-harvest settings. However, negative effects on mobility and ability to feed and cause damage to agricultural products were 4.9-fold stronger in post-harvest environments. Additionally, LLIN was 8.6-fold and 257-fold more effective in causing direct mortality and in reducing the ability of insect to colonize food sources in the laboratory studies compared to field studies. However, few studies have evaluated the efficacy of LLIN in the field, so this finding could be due to low sample sizes. Overall, our study shows that LLIN has efficacy for management of pests in a variety of environments. However, more field studies are needed in both pre- and post-harvest agricultural environments to determine the true efficacy of LLIN in the field.

Technical Abstract: Long-lasting insecticide-incorporated netting (LLIN) is a novel tactic to intercept insect movement and reduce the damage caused by insect species in agriculture. LLIN can be integrated with other diverse management tactics in pre- and postharvest settings, but no study has yet looked at the combined patterns across all undertaken studies to determine efficacy. Thus, we have carried out a meta-analysis on the direct and sublethal efficacy of LLIN, using literature published between 1990–2024 in agriculture. Additional criteria for inclusion included that the netting must contain an active ingredient and a proper control. In the end, this left us with a total of 44 peer-reviewed publications with 285 data points on the efficacy of LLIN in agriculture. LLIN exposure was 8.6-fold and 257-fold more effective in causing direct mortality and sublethal effects in the laboratory, respectively, compared to the field. However, broad generalization is limited because of the low sample size for field studies. Direct mortality was equally observed after exposure in preharvest and postharvest systems, but sublethal effects were 4.9-fold stronger after harvest. Deltamethrin and alpha-cypermethrin-incorporated netting inflict similar direct mortality across taxa. LLIN exposure has shown direct efficacy against 19 out of 23 tested species and has induced sublethal effects in 10 out of 16 tested species. Overall, our study synthesizes our knowledge on a promising new technology for agriculture, we highlight knowledge gaps, including a lack of field-relevant data, and finally suggest areas for further research in this field considering the entire production chain.