Institute for Plant Protection, NARO

In protected cultivation of fruit vegetables, damage caused by virus diseases transmitted by insect pests such as whiteflies and thrips has become increasingly serious. These pests have developed resistance to a wide range of synthetic chemical insecticides, making it difficult to effectively control them depending mainly on chemicals. The Institute for Plant Protection (NARO) has developed an integrated pest and disease management system for greenhouse tomatoes utilizing the predatory natural enemy Nesidiocoris tenuis. A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) describing this system was released in July 2025, and efforts to promote its adoption are currently underway. Meanwhile, similar problems caused by insect pests and the virus diseases they transmit are also becoming more severe in greenhouse cultivation of other crops such as sweet pepper and cucumber. There is a growing need to establish new pest management systems tailored to specific crop characteristics and cultivation practices. The Technology Application Research Team aims to optimize the N. tenuis-based control technology for use in sweet pepper and cucumber production. Through this work, the team seeks to establish new integrated pest management systems and to promote the wider application and dissemination of these technologies.