Grain News: Seeding rate may help manage flea beetle populations
The purpose of the study was twofold, says lead investigator Alejandro Costamagna, an associate professor with the department of entomology at the University of Manitoba. The first objective was to evaluate the impact of plant density on flea beetle management. The second was to determine how that might reduce the use of insecticides in canola crops.
“We wanted to see if, by manipulating plant density, we can decrease the damage of flea beetles to canola,” he says.
“We know it’s not a good idea to put a lot of insecticide on. We see those insecticides have no purpose because we can’t predict where the flea beetle will show up. What we do know is they don’t show up everywhere every year, so we are adding a lot of insecticides to the system that have no real purpose.”