Abstract
The Western corn rootworm (WCR), Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is a significant invasive pest of maize plantations in Europe. Integrated pest management demands an adequate monitoring system which detects the activity of insects with high accuracy in real-time. In this study, we show and test a new electronic device (ZooLog KLP), which was developed to detect WCR in the field. The ZooLog KLP consists of a trapping element that attracts insects with its color and species-specific sex pheromone. The other part is an opto-electronic sensor-ring which detects the specimens when they fall into the trap. At detection, the time of catch is recorded and sent to a web interface. In this study, we followed WCR flight patterns for six weeks in two locations, using ZooLog KLP probes. We investigated sensor precision by comparing the number of catches to the number of detections. The tool reached high accuracy (95.84%) in recording WCR. We found a peak in flight activity in August and a bimodal daily pattern. This method may be beneficial in detecting the WCR during their activity, and this new device may serve as a prototype for real-time monitoring systems and improve the management of this pest.
Highlights
Management of arthropod pests has long been a major challenge in food production for farmers throughout the world
We present the precision and reliability of the new method by comparing the number of Western corn rootworm (WCR) individuals caught and detected by the ZooLog KLP probes under field conditions
The trapping element of our new probe is based on the CSALOMON® KLP+ “hat” trap (Figure 1), produced by the Plant Protection Institute, Centre for Agricultural Research, Budapest, Hungary [25]. This trap type is typically used for quantitative sampling of WCR in Europe and can be baited with lures containing a species-specific sex pheromone or a floral-based attractant [35]
Summary
Management of arthropod pests has long been a major challenge in food production for farmers throughout the world. Integrated pest management (IPM) programs [1] can achieve long term pest control with effective actions, such as monitoring the population size, estimating economic threshold, and integrating currently known chemical, biological, and physical control methods [2,3]. Different trap types have been applied for the detection and monitoring of pest species. Manual checking is a time-consuming and laborious task, especially in large agricultural fields. The accurate forecasting of potential pest outbreaks requires real-time detection of the insects in the field. Based on this information, pest control practices, such as selective spraying, can be arranged at the right time and location
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