On the influence of different host plants and of insecticide treatments on the population development of the western corn rootworm Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)
2014
Fora, Ciprian George
D. virgifera virgifera is classified as a quarantine pest in Germany, therefore the trials, presented in this paper, were performed in the western part of Romania, where the pest is well established since more than ten years. The field tests were carried out in close collaboration with Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Timişoara. On sites highly infested by D. virgifera virgifera, 1 m² plots in four replications per variable were planted with maize for the chemical treatments and alternative crops (cereals and weeds). Gauze covered hatch cages were used for weekly counts of the emerged adult Diabrotica during the hatch period from mid of June to mid of August. It could be asserted that matured cereals are no host-plants for the western corn rootworm. In four years of trials not even one adult beetle hatched in the related cages. Setaria viridis and Digitaria sanguinalis reduced the number of hatched imagines significantly, nevertheless some individuals survived. Therefore an effective herbicide management against grass weeds in maize is recommended to limit the chance of survival of the pest. Clothianidin and Tefluthrin are effective against D. virgifera virgifera. 20% to 100% efficiency was assessed in the trials, strongly depending on precipitation and soil moisture in time of application. The insecticides decreased the maize root injury caused by larvae of the western corn rootworm significantly.
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