Management practices and incidence of pests in plantain (Musa paradisiaca AAB) crops. Consequences on the sustainability of the cropping systems

International audiencePlantain (Musa paradisiaca AAB) is one of the most important staple crops in the tropics, particularly in theCaribbean. Pests are the main constraint to plantain production and yield increases may be possible by improvingpest management. However, there is a lack of data on these cropping systems and a need to identify new elementsof improved production systems that can control pests in line with the principles of agroecologicaltransition. In this study, we test the hypothesis that crops grown in good quality soils are less susceptible to pests.To this end, an agroecological diagnosis of the biological, physical, morphological and chemical soil conditionsand the occurrence of pests, in particular plant-parasitic nematodes, was carried out on 21 plantain plots withcontrasting management in Guadeloupe (French West Indies). After classifying these plots according to theirmanagement practices, from conventional to agroecological, we searched for relationships between croppingsystems, soil quality and pests using a series of synthetic quality indices. Four different cropping systems wereidentified and compared: conventional intensive, intermediate, low-input and agroecological, according to thetype and amount of agrochemicals used. Our data showed that the Chemical Index was significantly improved inthe agroecological systems due to increases in pH, CEC, base saturation and total C and N content. TheMorphological Index increased regularly from intensive to agroecological systems and was significantly higher inagroecological systems with higher proportions of biogenic aggregates. Soil macroinvertebrate communitieswere significantly influenced by production systems, with the highest values of the Macrofauna Index in lowinput and agroecological production systems. We also showed that plant parasitic nematodes were betterregulated in agroecological production systems. Furthermore, the agroecological system achieved similar levelsof crop production to conventional systems, without the use of pesticides. In addition, these agroecologicalcropping systems extend the duration of plantain plots, which is an indicator of the good health of these systems