| Vegetables are main food crops in China and have become a major industry in the country's export market of plant products. Cruciferous crops account for approximately 50% of total vegetable production and consumption. However, the high levels of insecticide residue have caused many instances of serious poisoning of humans and the rejection of export vegetable products. The over and misuse of insecticides has become a major constraint of vegetable production.Targeted at the key problems in cruciferous vegetable management such as the high levels of residue, the great variety of insect pests, the complexity of the outbreaks of insect pests, and over-reliance on chemical insecticide to control pests, this study conducted the research on the seasonal abundance of insect pests and beneficials, the cultural control methods, the physical control method, and the biological control strategy. This research also proposed a technical system for integrating the management for both insect pests and beneficials at crop system level, and established a monitoring system for vegetable insect pests. The implication of this system reduced the abundance of insect pests and the insecticide residue and offered better management of cruciferous crops. Significant progresses were achieved in the following areas:1. Improvement of the forecasting techniques for the insect pests in crucifer cropsField investigations helped to obtain a better understanding of the patterns of seasonal abundance of major vegetable pests in Zhejiang. The use of light traps and insect sex pheromone technique and the formation of a monitoring network for vegetable pests and diseases improved the accuracy of forecasting.2. New progress of integrated pest management (IPM) in crucifer vegetable pestsSeveral agricultural, physical and biological methods, including inter-planting of trap crops, light traps, and insect sex pheromone techniques have been put into practice. These methods have helped to protect the natural enemies and promote their efficacy in pest control. A variety of "soft" insecticides with low toxicity was found by screening and incorporated into the IPM system. The proportion of biological, "soft" insecticides has increased in the control of insect pests of vegetable crops. IPM strategies have benn improved.3. Integrating the management of both insect pests and natural enemies at the crop system levelBy taking into consideration of the compensation ability of different growing stages of vegetable crops and the seasonal abundance of insect pests and beneficials, a set of dynamic action thresholds were established for decision making in the field. According to the action thresholds, insecticide input was reduced by about 30%, and yet the yield and quality of vegetable products were similar to, or better compared to conventional practices.4. A series of standards of non-polluted vegetable crops were established and appliedWe participated in the drafting of 20 items of industrial standards and region standards of non-polluted vegetable crops. We published the book Control Techniques of Insect Pests and Diseases of Non-polluted Vegetable Crops which has helped to promote the improvement of non-polluted vegetable production in Zhejiang and elsewhere in China.5. The implementation and extension of the technical system achieved dramatic impact on economy, society and ecologyThe extension of this technical system has obtained powerful support from all levels of the government and has been nominated as the key technique of the non-polluted vegetable production. The total area of effective implementation of this system has increased to 218.2 thousand hectares in the last 3 years, and the yield and quality of the vegetable products have experienced obvious improvement. In the last three years, this technique system reduced the control cost by approximately 104.33 million yuan, save the yield by 116.8 thousand tons, and increased farmers income by 91.176 million yuan, making up a total of 195.506 million yuan of social-economi...
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