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ARS Home » Plains Area » Sidney, Montana » Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory » Pest Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #362514
Research Project: Ecology and Management of Grasshoppers and Other Rangeland and Crop Insects in the Great Plains

Location: Pest Management Research

Title: Impact of granular carriers to improve the efficacy of entomopathogenic fungi against wireworms in spring wheat

Author
item SHARMA, ANAMIKA - Montana State Extension Service
item Jaronski, Stefan
item REDDY, GADI - Montana State Extension Service

Submitted to: Journal of Pest Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/9/2019
Publication Date: 9/1/2019
Citation: Sharma, A., Jaronski, S., Reddy, G.V. 2019. Impact of granular carriers to improve the efficacy of entomopathogenic fungi against wireworms in spring wheat. Journal of Pest Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-019-01161-1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-019-01161-1

Interpretive Summary: Wireworms are major concern for wheat growers around the globe. Environmentally friendly management strategies are needed because the present conventional, chemical seed treatments can be ineffective and pose environmental hazard. While biological control of wireworms in a general sense has not been practical, use of entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) is one environmental friendly solution for this problem. This study reports the successful use of several commercial and non-commercial EPF strains on several granular formulations against wireworm populations in Montana wheat. The selected EPFs were applied in furrow at planting as spores bound on granules of culinary polenta, or on culinary millet that had first been colonized by the fungi in solid substrate fermentation. Efficacy was evaluated not onlyon traditional data of yield, numbers on insects, etc., but also on economics – cost effectiveness based on a cost estimate for the fungi. Several of the fungus treatments gave cost-effective protection from wireworm attack. In general millet carrier was superior to the polenta.

Technical Abstract: Wireworms are major concern for wheat growers around the globe. Environmentally friendly management strategies are needed because the present conventional, chemical seed treatments can be ineffective and pose environmental hazard. While biological control of wireworms in a general sense has not been practical, use of entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) is one environmental friendly solution for this problem. The selected EPFs were Beauveria bassiana GHA, Metarhizium robertsii DWR356, Metarhizium robertsii DWR2009 (as granular formulations applied 11kg/ha and 22kg/ha). In 2017, at Valier MT, DWR356 and DWR2009 on millet carrier at 22.4 kg/ha provided greater yield but all the treatments at the lower rate were cost-effective. In 2018, B. bassiana GHA and M. robertsii DWR2009 were retested along with B. bassiana ERL836 and M. brunneum F52. Millet carrier alone, GHA and ERL836 on millet, obtained cost-effective results at irrigated and non-irrigated sites. However, these were less cost-effective than imidacloprid as a seed treatment. The overall cost-benefit ratio of using EPF granules was higher in both years compared to the control. Millet, on which the fungi were grown, worked better than the other carriers. Further evaluation of the effect of carrier while applying EPFs as granulars is required.