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Submitted to: Sugar Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 3/1/1995 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Scientists at the USDA-ARS (Agricultural Research Service) Northern Crop Science Laboratory at Fargo, ND., are studying naturally occurring biological agents to combat the sugarbeet root maggot (Tetanops myopaeformis). The sugarbeet root maggot is known to cause damage throughout two thirds of the US beet growing area. The biological approaches being studied and the alternative control strategies which may result are aimed at reducing the reliance on chemical insecticides - currently the only control method available. Technical Abstract: We have evaluated six strains of nematodes in the laboratory and found that all strains infected, killed, and reproduced in the SBRM larvae. Mortality of the root maggots ranges from 50% to 85% in the laboratory. Death of the larvae occurred 24 to 48 hours after nematode infection. Reproduction within the larval cadavers produced several thousand infective juvenile nematodes 12 to 14 days after infection. Our first- year field tests, conducted in the summer of 1992, indicated that all strains tested infected the larvae in the field. Further laboratory tests determined that adult flies were infected after only two hours of exposure to the nematodes and that reproduction did take place in adult fly cadavers. |
