Chapter 5 - Forecasting of Colorado Potato Beetle Development with Computer Aided System SIMLEP Decision Support System

Abstract

Colorado potato beetle is the most destructive potato pest in Europe. Both adults and larvae feed on this host, and often cause complete defoliation of potato plants, with considerable yield losses of up to 50%. Owing to the warm weather conditions during the 1990s, severe losses occurred in Germany and Poland, and consequently, insecticide use increased. In order to solve the problems with CPB, the decision support system (DSS) SIMLEP was developed by the Central Institution for Decision Support Systems in Crop Protection and Crop Production in Germany (German acronym: ZEPP). SIMLEP basically consists of two modules: SIMLEP1-Start, which predicts hatching of the overwintering CPB from the soil depending on the sum of the mean daily soil temperatures from 1 March, and SIMLEP3, which simulates the development of CPB from the beginning of egg laying to the occurrence of old larvae at a field-specific scale. Both models are grouped in the SIMLEP-DSS and integrated on the ISIP Plant Protection Office official website and have been widely introduced into agricultural practice in Germany. This chapter gives a detailed description of the new SIMLEP1-Start model, and a brief description of the well-known SIMLEP3 model and the combined strategy derived from the use of SIMLEP-DSS against CPB.