Seasonal, Landscape, and Attractant Effects on Lesser Grain Borer, Rhyzopertha dominica (F.), Captures in Northeast Kansas

Deanna S Scheff,Franklin H Arthur,James F Campbell

doi:10.3390/agronomy12010099

Abstract

The lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica (F.), is a highly diverse feeder and widely distributed throughout the United States in agricultural and non-agricultural landscapes. Six four-funnel Lindgren traps were deployed in feed mill, grain elevator, and native prairie landscapes, to determine the most attractive food and pheromone combination (attractant) and patterns in seasonal captures. Traps were baited with combinations of wheat (crimped, high moisture, pre-fed) with or without an R. dominica specific aggregation pheromone in 2017 and 2018. Traps were deployed for 48 h, collected, and the number of R. dominica counted. Rhyzopertha dominica was captured among all landscapes with all attractants. There was a significant correlation between temperature and R. dominica captures, with peak captures occurring during the warmest months. Significantly more R. dominica adults were captured in traps containing the pheromone. In 2017, pheromone traps captured 818% more R. dominica and 543% more than in 2018. The pheromone component in the trap was more attractive than any natural stored wheat condition and should be included in future studies. Understanding the seasonal patterns and changes in capture rates in agricultural and non-agricultural landscapes may be useful in determining times of increased immigration pressure into the newly harvested grain.

Highlights

The lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica (F.), is a serious pest of stored grain, especially wheat, throughout much of the world
To understand how R. dominica responds to food and pheromone volatiles in a broader field setting and how this might impact our ability to improve detection, we evaluated six different wheat and pheromone attractant combinations at three different locations, native prairie, feed mill, and grain elevator in Northeast Kansas, and evaluated their influence on overall R. dominica captures during two field seasons
Using each trapping period as a replicate, we found significant differences in the number of R. dominica captures for the main effects of trap location, attractant type, and the interaction of location × year (Table 4)

Summary

Introduction

The lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica (F.), is a serious pest of stored grain, especially wheat, throughout much of the world. Rhyzopertha dominica has been reported feeding on highly diverse food groups including seeds, turnips, various woods, beans, roots, and tubers [1]. This species is not known to infest grain in the field before harvest but can infest newly-harvested grain after it is loaded into farm bins or elevator silos [2]. Emerged adults will chew their way out of the kernel and continue to feed and cause economic losses in stored grain

Results

Discussion

Conclusion