Relative attractiveness of Brassica napus, Brassica nigra, Eruca sativa and Raphanus sativus for pollen beetle (Meligethes aeneus) and their potential for use in trap cropping

The potential of crop management practices to reduce pollen beetle damage in oilseed rape

“…Pollen beetles often feed on early spring-flowering plants before they move onto oilseed rape (Free and Williams 1978;Ouvrard et al 2016), and have been observed on the crop at pre-green bud growth stages (Veromann et al 2012); during most seasons, it seems that the beetles arrive sufficiently early to colonise even the most advanced crops before the susceptible green bud stages are over (Cook et al 2006;Mauchline et al 2017a). Relative differences in growth stage, for example between a crop and trap crop or variation within a field, however, are very important in determining infestation levels, because of the beetle's preference for the flowering growth stages (Cook et al 2007;Mauchline et al 2017a), which may provide a reliable cue for the availability of buds of the preferred size for oviposition (2-3 mm; Ekbom and Borg 1996), together with food resources (Frearson et al 2005).…”

Semiochemical-based alternatives to synthetic toxicant insecticides for pollen beetle management

“…The push-pull system in development for pollen beetle control incorporates early season monitoring using semiochemical-baited traps (Cook et al 2013a) followed by using an attractive border trap crop such as turnip rape (B. rapa) (Cook et al 2004b, c;Čuljak et al 2016) or B. nigra (Veromann et al 2012(Veromann et al , 2014 to provide the 'pull' element, as they are known to be a preferred host-plant for several OSR pests including the pollen beetle. Ideally, this should be a 'dead-end' trap crop (Shelton and Badenes-Perez 2006) such as Raphanus sativus (L.) Domin (Veromann et al 2014).…”

Prospects for improved off-crop habitat management for pollen beetle control in oilseed rape

“…Several species of the Brassicaceae appear more attractive to pollen beetles than spring-sown OSR, including turnip rape Brassica rapa (Hokkanen 1989, Hokkanen et al 1986Buchi 1990;Cook et al 2004Cook et al , 2006Cook et al , 2007c, yellow mustard Brassica juncea (Kaasik et al 2014b), black mustard Brassica nigra (Veromann et al 2012;Kaasik et al 2014a), and white mustard Sinapis alba (Kaasik et al 2014b). However, few studies have tested the possibility that trap crops can …”

“…Pollen beetle populations reduced in the main crop and larval development poor in trap crop (Veromann et al 2012(Veromann et al , 2014 Parasitism rates on Raphanus sativus reported to be lower than on B. napus (Kaasik et al 2014a);…”

“…The possibility of using trap crops to trap out pollen beetles as they move from winter to spring-sown OSR crops or other flowering resources before hibernation has been suggested (Veromann et al 2012). Fodder Radish, Raphanus sativus, was more attractive than OSR in the flowering stages and was acceptable for oviposition but larval development on the plant has shown to be poor, leading to the suggestion that it may also have potential as a 'dead-end' trap crop (Shelton and Nault 2004) for pollen beetles (Veromann et al 2012(Veromann et al , 2014.…”