Seed Treatment as a Method of Insect Control

Abstract

Seed treatment-the application of insecticides, fungicides, growth-regu­ lating materials, trace elements, or other entities to seeds-is rapidly becom­ ing a standard agricultural practice. In fact, the value of fungicide treatment has long been recognized. With a decrease, in certain areas at least, of available agricultural lands, and major increases in costs of crop production, an emphasis has been placed upon stand establishment. Proper application of materials to seeds often insures a satisfactory stand, and as an economical insurance control measure, beneficial results need not to be ob­ tained for each crop or season. Recent reviews have partly covered some aspects of treatment. Lilly (122), in his review of soil insects, mentions several of the advantages and disadvantages of treatment. A comparison of treatment with other methods of control for wireworms and maggots was made by Lange, Lane & Stone (116). The status of treatment through 1952 was sum­ marized by Fletcher (53). Classic reviews of systemic insecticides in pest control practices and in soil and treatments were presented by Ripper (165) and Reynolds (158). In this review the term seed is restricted to true seeds or ovules planted for agricultural purposes; it is not applied to the propagative portions of plants. Contact or fumigant materials on stored grains seem to warrant separate attention, and the subject was covered in a recent review by Par­ kin (149). Seed treatment is not a new method of insect control; as David & Gardi­ ner (34) and Ripper (165) point out, the method was thought of as early as A.D. 50 by Junius Columella. It was not until the advent of the use of chlorinated hydrocarbons, lindane in particular, that contact, fumigant, repellent, and limited systemic effects were obtained on certain soiland foliage-feeding insects. Recent developments in systemic insecticides and fungicides, growth-regulating materials, and trace elements make the future use of treatment still more intriguing and useful to the entomologist in solving his many control problems.