Results of the 1997–1998 multi-country FAO activity on containment and control of the western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, in Central Europe

Schulten, G. G. M.; Edwards, C. R.; Igrc Barcic, J.; Berberovic, H.; Berger, H. K.; Festic, H.; Kiss, J.; Princzinger, G.; Vonica, I.

Results of the 1997–1998 multi-country FAO activity on containment and control of the western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, in Central Europe

2000

A Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) was undertaken on the western corn rootworm (WCR) in 1997 –1998 to establish a permanent monitoring network, evaluate a containment and control program, test the feasibility and effectiveness of using a Slam ®-based area wide pest management program, develop training materials, and conduct a risk assessment of the potential for WCR spread and establishment in other areas of Europe. TCP countries were Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, and Romania. Bulgaria and Yugoslavia cooperated as unofficial TCP members. The data from the permanent monitoring network showed that the WCR had spread over an area of about 105,600 km 2 in Central Europe and that economic populations had developed on 14,000 km 2 in Yugoslavia through 1998. The containment and control trapping program, although designed to determine the feasibility of restricting the establishment of WCR beetles in an area, did not prove to be successful due to the number of WCR beetles encountered and their rapid movement into previously uninfested areas. The areawide pest management activity showed that the semiochemical Slam was highly efficacious against WCR beetles with residual activity for up to 2 weeks, thus making it a cost-effective alternative to other controls. Also, investigations showed that WCR will continue to spread and establish in other parts of Europe.

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