Economic Injury Level of the Striped Cabbage Flea Beetle, Phyllotreta striolata (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), on Chinese Cabbage

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the economic injury levels and control thresholds for the striped cabbage flea beetle, Phyllotreta striolata (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), on Chinese cabbage at two different planting times. The number of inoculated adults per 10 cabbages was 0, 2, 4, 8, and 16 at the early developmental stage of the cabbage5 days after planting) and 0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 at the middle developmental stage (30 days after planting). Damages to the leaves at the first inoculation were 2.5-21.1% and at the second inoculation were 1.8-26.3% after harvesting. The linear relationships between population density and yield reduction were as follows: Y = 1.3475X + 2.135 (R 2 = 0.8699) at the early developmental stage and Y = 0.703X -1.78 (R 2 = 0.966) at the middle developmental stage. On the basis of these results, the economic injury levels caused 5% loss of yield; there were 2.1 adults per 10 Chinese cabbage at the early developmental stage and 9.6 adults per 10 Chinese cabbage at the middle developmental stage.