Integrated approaches for flea beetle control – economic thresholds, prediction models, landscape effects, and natural enemies

The Challenge

Flea beetles continue to be a chronic pest to canola, costing producers every year on yield. Although insecticides are effective, reliance on them has caused  over spraying. This production cost is unnecessary and negatively affects the environment.

The Project

Develop a holistic and sustainable approach to flea beetle control in canola by:

• Developing a more comprehensible economic threshold
• Identifying effective natural enemies using molecular methods
• Defining landscapes that are detriment to flea beetles
• Developing a system to predict and monitor flea beetle population based off seasonal conditions

The Results

Nominal economic threshold for flea beetles is 25% defoliation. Two carabid beetles were found to be predators to both the striped and crucifer beetles. In addition, significant relationships between flea beetle abundance, plant density and canola damage were determined, but more investigation is required to provide recommendations on the ideal plant density to reduce insect damage.

Following this study, Costamanga led the ‘Integrated approaches for flea beetle control II: Incorporating the impacts of plant density, ground predators, and landscape-scale predictive models in the management of flea beetles in the Canadian Prairies’ project.

Grower Benefits

Development of a sustainable approach to flea beetle control will help save growers on insecticide costs while preserving natural predators and avoiding negative environmental effects.