Remote sensing of selected winter and spring host plants of tarnished plant bug (Heteroptera: Miridae) and herbicide use strategies as a management tactic

Authors: SUDBRINK, DONALD - Austin Peay State University; Thomson, Steven; Fletcher, Reginald; HARRIS, AUBREY - Mississippi State University; ENGLISH, PATRICK - Mississippi State University; ROBBINS, JAMES - Mississippi State University

Submitted to: American Journal of Plant Sciences
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/25/2015
Publication Date: 5/28/2015
Citation: Sudbrink, D.L., Thomson, S.J., Fletcher, R.S., Harris, A., English, P.J., Robbins, J.T. 2015. Remote sensing of selected winter and spring host plants of tarnished plant bug (Heteroptera: Miridae) and herbicide use strategies as a management tactic. American Journal of Plant Sciences. 6:1313-1327.

Interpretive Summary: Tarnished plant bug has become the key pest of cotton in many cotton-producing areas of the United States. These bugs may utilize more than 300 species of host plants for habitat and feeding, so application of herbicide to these non-crop host plants near cotton can effectively reduce these populations. Researchers at the USDA-ARS, CPSRU and DREC of Mississippi State University, Stoneville, Mississippi USA conducted studies to identify these host plants using imaging systems from aircraft that analyze particular wavelengths of light. Several vegetation indices (that are mathematical combinations of these wavelengths) were evaluated for their ability to detect and discriminate these host plants for subsequent herbicide application. Results showed that some vegetation indices were better than others for discriminating plants, and that use of alternate wavelength bands should be investigated for those plants that are more difficult to distinguish. Insect data showed which types of wild host plants were preferred by the insects, allowing potential herbicide management plans to be fine-tuned with assistance from remote sensing.

Technical Abstract: Remote sensing was used in a series of experiments over a three-year period to obtain spectral reflectance data for use in studying differences in vegetation indices between grasses, broadleaf plants, and grass/broadleaf plant mixtures. Empirical simulations of selected non-crop winter and spring host plants of tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris, were planted in field-plot experiments. Multispectral reflectance data were aerially acquired with a Real-Time Digital Airborne Camera System (RDACS) sensor and with a Geospatial Systems (DuncanTech) MS-2100 multispectral camera. The following six vegetation indices of spectral reflectance were evaluated in this study: normalized difference vegetation index, ratio vegetation index, green normalized difference vegetation index, green vegetation index, green ratio vegetation index, and Ashburn vegetation index. Vegetation indices calculated with imagery data for the grasses and broadleaves differed significantly; there appeared to be more discriminating differences between vegetation indices for grasses and broadleaf plants when the indices were based on green and near infrared or green and red spectral bands than when the indices were based on red and near infrared spectral bands. Insect data from these studies confirm that tarnished plant bug prefers broadleaf host plants, but can use Italian ryegrass for food and reproduction. The narrow temporal window of host suitability for Italian ryegrass may limit its significance. Herbicide destruction of broadleaf host plants in early spring prevented the tarnished plant bug population increases that occurred in untreated plots. Findings of this study would be useful in site-specific vegetation management decisions in programs like the prototypical area-wide tarnished plant bug management experiment conducted in the Delta region of Mississippi.