GrainsWest Spring 2020

Spring 2020 Grains West 10 THE FARMGATE KNOWLEDGE IS EVERYTHING in controlling a difficult pest such as wireworm. “You’ve got to know your enemy,” said Haley Catton, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) research scientist. With funding from the Alberta Wheat Commission and the Western Grains Research Foundation, she has led a three-year project that will produce a huge amount of wireworm data and contribute to integrated management approaches. “To know where and when it’s a prob- lem and what its vulnerable life stages are, is very important,” she said. With this information, control can better emphasize the use of field monitoring, crop rotation and biological solutions with the option of chemistry when required. Knowyour enemy An integrated pest management approach to wireworm The larvae of the click beetle family, of the 100-plus species that live in Alberta soils, only four or five wireworms attack crops. This large family of insects has been studied on the Prairies since at least the 1920s, said Catton. Though much is known about wireworms, she says a great deal of basic information is missing. One reason for this is each click beetle species has varying lifecycles and behaviours, which complicates their study. Living in the soil anywhere from one to 11 years, they’re also simply hard to find. Even when they cause crop damage, they may leave the scene of the crime by burrowing down. Catton’s study will address many un- knowns about wireworms. For instance, it’s not clear where female click beetles prefer to lay their eggs and if they prefer certain crops. “Where she lays her eggs will determine where the future wire- worms are going to live,” said Catton. Also among the study’s ambitious objectives, is to determine if crop rotation affects wireworm infestation due to the fact the worms live for multiple years. Sampling was carried out on 12 spring wheat fields identified as likely having wireworm problems. Each was sampled in a wheat year that was preceded by wheat-canola, canola-wheat or pulse-can- ola. “We rotate with so much canola here, I wanted to see if canola had any affect on larvae populations,” said Catton. Such revelations will benefit farmers. “That can tell us what the risk factors are Researcher Haley Catton digs in a patch of crop kiled by wireworms. There are many species of wirewormwith varying life cycles, which makes studying themparticularly tricky. Photo:Courtesyof MariahEdiger