ABSTRACT
The efficacy of various insecticides and application methods in protecting potatoes from wireworm (Agriotes obscurus L.) damage as well as reducing wireworm populations was studied over 5 yr in Agassiz, British Columbia. Protection from wireworm damage was measured by the number of blemishes to daughter tubers, and effects on wireworm populations were measured by sampling soil around seed potatoes and/or by bait traps the following spring. Organophosphates registered for wireworm control in the United States and/or Canada (phorate and chlorpyrifos), significantly reduced blemishes to tubers by, respectively, 92.2 and 90.2%, and populations of large (> or = 9 mm long = 'resident') wireworms by 83.4 and 71.0% relative to controls. Similar reductions in smaller (< 9 mm long = 'neonate') wireworms were also observed. Neonicotinoids (imidacloprid, clothianidin, and thiamethoxam) tested as seed piece treatments at approximately 12.5 g active ingredient/100 kg potato seed reduced blemishes by, respectively, 19.1, 71.6, and 90.6%, but resident wireworms were only reduced by, respectively, 22.0, 29.1, and 51.8%. Significant mortality of neonates was not observed with any neonicotinoid treatment. With the possible exception of thiamethoxam, where significant reduction in resident wireworms occurred, it is likely that the blemish protection provided without significant wireworm mortality with imidacloprid and clothianidin treatments was because of long-term wireworm intoxication followed by population recovery. The phenyl pyrazole, fipronil, applied as an in-furrow spray reduced blemishes by 94.3%, and resident wireworm populations could not be detected in plots the following spring. Neonates were reduced by 93.3%, indicating excellent residual conotrol had occurred with fipronil. These studies indicate that tuber protection by fipronil and currently registered organophosphates is likely because of significant early season mortality of wireworms, whereas neonicotinoids generally provide control through long-term morbidity without high levels of mortality occurring.
Subject(s)
Coleoptera , Insect Control , Insecticides , Solanum tuberosum , Animals , British ColumbiaABSTRACT
The efficacy of various insecticidal seed treatments in protecting wheat, Triticum aestivum L., from wireworm damage as well as reducing wireworm (Coleoptera: Elateridae) populations was studied over 3 yr. Protection from wireworm damage was measured by postplanting stand counts, and effects on wireworm populations were measured by within-row core samples and by bait traps placed in plots the following spring. The effects of treatments on populations of larger wireworms already present at planting were distinguished from their effects on neonate wireworms produced that growing season. Neonicotinoid seed treatments (imidacloprid, clothianidin, and thiamethoxam) provided excellent wheat stand protection, likely through prolonged wireworm intoxication, but populations of larger and neonate wireworms were not significantly reduced in bait traps the following spring. The pyrethroid tefluthrin, applied to seed with and without a neonicotinoid insecticide (thiamethoxam), provided excellent crop protection, but populations of wireworms also were not significantly reduced. This and additional laboratory data suggest that wheat stand establishment provided by tefluthrin is due to a combination of repulsion and short term morbidity events. The phenyl pyrazole fipronil provided excellent crop protection, and populations of both larger and neonate wireworms could not be detected in plots the following spring. The previously registered organochlorine lindane, although reducing wireworm feeding, was phytotoxic in 2 of 3 yr. Next to fipronil, lindane was the most consistent seed treatment in reducing populations of larger and neonate wireworms. These studies indicate that stand and yield protection provided by contemporary wheat seed treatments cannot automatically be equated with wireworm population mortality. This is an important consideration when choosing a suitable seed treatment to replace lindane, which historically provided both stand protection and wireworm reduction, and did not have to be applied every year.
