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BELTSVILLE, Md. - A new lure is being developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and cooperating scientists that could bring relief to lawn care operators looking to guard their client’s lawns against root-damaging white grubs, according to a recent release by ARS.
White grubs - the larvae of beetles in the family Scarabaeidae - are important pests of turfgrass, ornamentals, trees, nursery crops and other agricultural crops throughout the U.S. and around the world.
The ARS research focuses on a lure that attracts and kills the adult beetles before they have a chance to lay eggs. By preventing an infestation of white grubs, this new environmentally friendly technology may reduce the need for treating large areas with insecticides, according to ARS entomologist Juan Lopez Jr. in College Station, Texas. ARS researchers there are working with a scientist at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in Dallas.
The new attractant is of special interest, according to Lopez, because no effective attractants are currently available for monitoring and controlling several species of white grubs. The attractant was developed under a cooperative research agreement with Trece Inc, Salinas, Calif.
The scents, which smell like food to the beetles, lure adult insects into a trap or into a treated area where they are captured or can feed on low-dose insecticides. A feeding stimulant entices them to eat enough of the mixture to kill them. With attract-and-kill technology, adults are targeted even though the larvae do the most damage to root crops. The goal is to keep adults from reproducing, thereby reducing succeeding generations.
ARS said the new attractant can be used either as part of a monitoring program or as a direct control. Using monitoring alone, growers and farmers can know when and where the pest is breeding to produce damaging offspring. This permits more efficient use of fewer pesticides in area-wide Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station have applied for a patent on the adult beetle attractant, according to ARS. A similar attractant for corn earworm moths was patented in June 2000.
ARS is the chief scientific research agency for the USDA.