A project has launched with an aim to improve management of cabbage stem flea beetles (CSFB) - the primary cause for the dramatic reduction in the area of the UK's oilseed rape crop.
Researchers will monitor migration of the adult insects from August to October and larval invasion from September to October, at sites across England.
The information obtained by AHDB and NIAB will be made available to farmers during the 2024-25 growing season – and it may also be used for research.
To monitor adult CSFBs, yellow water traps will be used at ground level to monitor general activity and at a height of one metre to monitor flying, at seven sites across England.
In one location, monitoring will be undertaken in two to three more fields, to gauge variation in CSFB activity in nearby crops.
Updated data will be available on the AHDB website twice a week throughout the monitoring period.
At all locations, a Bayer MagicTrap, which are new to the UK, will photograph beetles caught in the trap, use image analysis to identify and count CSFB, and transmit information remotely.
This will allow data to be compared to that of traditional yellow water traps, which have to be personally monitored, with beetles counted ‘by hand’. Weather data will also be recorded.
To monitor invasion by CSFB larvae, 50 plants within 10 metres of the traps at each site will be assessed for presence and numbers of scars on the plants that show they have been attacked by larvae.
Sacha White, AHDB lead crop protection scientist, said the data would also be useful in future work looking to develop risk prediction models.
He said: “We believe that this information will be of use to growers in selecting integrated pest management interventions, thereby helping reduce crop losses."
At the end of the project, a full dataset will be available for farmers and growers to view.
