Insect pests and their natural enemies on spring oilseed rape in Estonia : impact of cropping systems

Abstract

To investigate the impact of different cropping systems, the pests, their hymenopteran parasitoids and predatory ground beetles present in two spring rape crops in Estonia, in 2003, were compared. One crop was grown under a standard (STN) cropping system and the other under a minimised (MIN) system. The STN system plants had more flowers than those in the MIN system, and these attracted significantly more Meligethes aeneus, the only abundant and real pest in Estonia. Meligethes aeneus had two population peaks: the first during opening of the first flowers and the second, the new generation, during ripening of the pods. The number of new generation M. aeneus was almost four times greater in the STN than in the MIN crop. More carabids were caught in the MIN than in STN crop. The maximum abundance of carabids occurred two weeks before that of the new generation of M. aeneus, at the time when M. aeneus larvae were dropping to the soil for pupation and hence were vulnerable to predation by carabids.

Bee pollination outperforms pesticides for oilseed crop production and profitability

“…It is possible that pest abundance is very low in our study region. For example, with similar trapping methods and effort, more than 20 pests were caught in Germany or Estonia [56,57] while only six were caught in our site. Indeed, other studies have shown that fertilizer [25,49,58] or pesticide use [59] do have positive effects on OSR yield.…”

Crop succession and habitat preferences drive the distribution and abundance of carabid beetles in an agricultural landscape

“…Second, species distribution depends on availability of resources (Lövei and Sunderland, 1996). P. cupreus preference for oilseed rape can be related to the larger amount of prey items found in oilseed rape (Haschek et al, 2012), especially agricultural pests such as the pollen beetle Meligethes aeneus (Stephens) (Veromann et al, 2008), Ceutorhynchus Germar weevils (Piper and Williams, 2004), the brassica pod midge Dasineura brassicae (Winnertz) (Schlein and Büchs, 2004) or slug eggs (Oberholzer and Frank, 2003). Similarly, as an ectoparasitoid, B. sclopeta is limited by the presence of its hosts.…”

DNABarcoding as useful tool to identify crop pest flea beetles of Turkey

“…With regard to host plants, C. tibialis is the only species of the genus included in this study that was found feeding on crops; it was observed to be one of the most abundant and common species in the field, resulting in serious damage on chard (Beta vulgaris cicla), sugar beet (Beta vulgaris saccharifera), beet (Beta vulgaris), radish (Raphanus raphanistrum) and cress (Lepidium sativum). With the exception of sugar beet, for which C. tibialis has been previously reported to be a destructive pest in Europe and in Turkey (Aslan & Özbek, 1998;Cagán et al, 2000;Cagáň et al, 2006;Neves, 1983;Pataki, 1967;Stef & Buzinovschi, 1982;Yildirim & Özbek, 1992), the remaining Özbek (1998), Brelih et al (2003); Metspalu et al (2014) Brassica napusoleifera, Brassica rapaoleifera HD Ekbom (1990), Alford, Nilsson, and Ulber (2003), Veromann, Tarang, Kevväi, and Luik (2006) (Kaszab, 1962;Sáringer, 1990), which supports our observation. Phyllotreta undulata, known to be one of the most destructive species of the genus and the most common flea beetle feeding on cabbage in several European countries (Brelih, Döberl, Drovenik, & Pirnat, 2003;Metspalu et al, 2014), was found in a high numbers on cabbage, with significant damage.…”