Location: Sugarbeet Research
Project Number: 3060-21000-045-034-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2025
End Date: Aug 31, 2027
Objective:
Plant volatile organic compounds (VOCs) play important roles in crop-insect interactions. In this study, we will: 1) identify VOCs from aboveground sugar beet and alternative host plant tissue that play a role in adult SBRM host location, 2) identify VOCs from belowground sugar beet tissue that play a role in resistance against larval SBRM, and 3) identify VOCs from belowground sugar beet tissue that play a role in attraction of natural enemies. The overall goal of this study is to determine the chemical attractants and repellants that affect sugar beet root maggot oviposition and feeding and natural enemy recruitment.
Approach:
VOCs will be collected using established dynamic headspace sampling techniques and identified and quantified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Olfactometer choice tests will be used to establish the specific VOCs and plants (species and varieties) attract or repel SBRM and natural enemies. Separate greenhouse assays will be conducted to assess whether dispensers containing VOC attractants increase adult oviposition and whether increased amounts of VOCs in the soil decrease larval survival. Pitfall traps will be used to collect arthropod predators from sugar beet fields in North Dakota. Additionally, we will conduct laboratory assays to determine what entomopathogenic nematode (EPN) species and concentrations are most effective in infecting SBRM. Olfactometer tests will quantify attraction of these natural enemies to sugar beet varieties.