EFFECTS OF COVER CROPS ON THE ABUNDANCE AND DIVERSITY OF NATURAL ENEMIES OF GRAPEVINE PEST

O controle de pragas da videira no Brasil restringe-se basicamente ao uso de inseticidas, devido à inexistência de trabalhos que visem a complementar o manejo de pragas através de controle biológico. Neste trabalho, objetivou-se verificar o efeito de diferentes coberturas vegetais nas entrelinhas de plantio de videira sobre a abundância e diversidade de potenciais inimigos naturais de pragas da videira no município de Caldas, região Sul do Estado de Minas Gerais. Foram testadas sete diferentes coberturas de solo (aveia-preta, aveia-preta e ervilhaca, ervilhaca, cobertura morta, uso de herbicida, capina mecânica e mato roçado). A cobertura vegetal do solo influenciou tanto a diversidade quanto a abundância de inimigos naturais, sendo o consórcio de aveia-preta e ervilhaca, cultivadas simultaneamente, o tratamento que proporcionou maior diversidade e abundância de inimigos naturais. Assim, a cobertura vegetal do solo pode, potencialmente, ser um componente importante em programas de manejo integrado de pragas na cultura da videira.The control of grapevine pests in Brazil is only based in the use of chemical products. It is due to the whole absence of experimental works developed to test and evaluate alternative control systems, like the biological control. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of different types of cover crops, placed between the cultivation lines of grapevine, in the abundance and diversity of natural control arthropods of grapevine pests. The experiment was conduced in the EPAMIG, Caldas Research Farm, located in the Minas Gerais State, Brazil. They Were tested seven different systems of soil covering. The presence of vegetal covering was beneficial to improve the diversity as well as the abundance of biological control agents present on the grapevine crop. The cultivation of black oat and pea together, was the treatment that showed the better result to diversity and abundance. Therefore, the cover crops would be an important step to programs of pest control on grape looking for low environmental impac