Location: Southeast Watershed Research
Project Number: 6048-22000-044-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Nov 24, 2015
End Date: Nov 23, 2020
Objective:
1. Determine biological, ecological, and structural mechanisms driving stink bug population dynamics in landscapes composed of agricultural (e.g., corn, peanut, cotton, and soybean) and non-agricultural habitats to design management strategies for stink bugs in the Southeastern Region of the United States.
1.A. Determine the seasonal occurrence and biology of stink bugs in non-crop habitats in agricultural landscapes.
1.B. Determine stink bug dispersal from non-crop hosts into cotton and the impact on cotton in terms of boll injury.
1.C. Investigate the potential for host-associated differentiation (HAD) in parasitoids of stink bug adult, nymph and egg stages.
1.D. Deploy use of Long-term Agricultural Research (LTAR) sites and eco-informatics to establish causal relationships between environmental and geospatial data, management strategies, and pest control success in vegetable crops such as cucurbits, fruiting vegetables, onions, cabbage, leafy greens and sweet corn.
2. Develop and test biologically-based management strategies, including augmentative releases of parasitoids, trapping insect pests with pheromone traps, elimination of non-crop sources of stink bugs, biopesticides, and multifunctional trap cropping systems, to monitor and/or control native and naturalized stink bugs and the invasive kudzu bug and the brown marmorated stink bug in the Southeastern Region of the United States.
2.A. Determine the efficacy of augmentative releases of kudzu bug parasitoids in reducing kudzu bug populations.
2.B. Monitor populations of the newly invasive brown marmorated stink bug using pheromone-baited stink bug traps.
2.C. Determine the effect of selected biopesticides on the kudzu bug in soybean.
2.D. Examine the utility of eliminating non-crop host plants of stink bugs along field edges for reduction of stink bug dispersal into cotton.
2.E. Evaluate the effectiveness of using a soybean trap cropping system to manage stink bugs attacking cotton.
Approach:
Collect data on the seasonal occurrence, development and feeding and mating behavior of stink bugs in known and potential non-crop habitats surrounding row crops in 10-12 agricultural landscapes. Conduct a study of stink bug dispersal from known non-crop hosts into cotton and their impact on cotton boll injury in 6-8 agricultural landscapes. Conduct a study on the presence of host-associated differentiation in parasitoids of stink bug adults, nymphs and eggs collected in cotton and soybean fields and from nearby known non-crop host plants. Conduct a study on the effects of augmentative releases of an exotic kudzu bug egg parasitoid on kudzu bug density in 10 kudzu patches in North and South Georgia and nearby soybean fields. Monitor populations of the newly invasive brown marmorated stink bug north of the Coastal Plain in Georgia using pyramid stink bug traps baited with lures and map its distribution and spread in Georgia. Conduct studies in experimental plots on selected biopesticide effects on kudzu bug populations in soybean. Conduct a study on the elimination of known non-crop host plants of stink bugs along 6 cotton field edges on stink bug dispersal into the cotton field. Conduct a study in a grower’s peanut-cotton farmscape on the effect of a soybean trap cropping system on the density of stink bugs attacking cotton.
