Enhancing flea beetle monitoring and management through production of pheromones in yeast

The Challenge

Flea beetles are the most economically damaging insect pest of canola on the Canadian prairies, and monitoring flea beetles can be difficult and time consuming due to requirements for daily in-field scouting. Volatile-baited traps are a more efficient monitoring method, but the pheromones required for these traps are very expensive.

The Project

This project aims to produce flea-beetle pheromones reliably and economically, to lay a foundation for future flea beetle pheromone-monitoring and pheromone-based management techniques.

The Results

This section will be updated upon completion of the project.

Grower Benefits

This project could create an alternative flea beetle monitoring strategy for growers that is less time consuming than daily field scouting, and more cost-effective than utilizing the current options for volatile-baited traps.