WIREWORM PESTS IN SPRING WHEAT IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA, CANADA Abstract uri icon

abstract

  • Wireworms are the subterranean larval stage of click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae), and are known as crop pests around the world. Wireworms are chewing pests that consume wheat (Triticum aestivum) and other cereal and root crops in the seed and seedling stage, thinning crops and reducing yield. There are currently no effective chemical controls available for this pest in Canada, which has approximately20 species of pest wireworm. Species composition varies by region. Wireworms have multi-year life stages, living several years in the soil, and therefore may respond to previous crop rotations. We sampled wireworms and click beetles weekly from spring to harvest in 12 commercial spring wheat fields in the Lethbridge area in southern Alberta, Canada for each of 2017 and 2018 (=24 fields total). To be eligible for sampling, study fields had to be suspected of having a wireworm problem by the farmer, be seeded to spring wheat in the year of sampling, and have one of the following rotations in the previous two years: cereal-cereal, cereal-canola, canola-cereal, pulse-canola. Here we report preliminary results on wireworm species compositions, specimen sizes, and timing of insect activity. The study will continue for a third and final year in 2019.

publication date

  • July 2019