EVALUATION OF THE USE OF FOOD BAITS FOR DETECTING WIREWORMS (AGRIOTESSPP, COLEOPTERA, ELATERIDAE) IN FIELDS INTENDED FOR ARABLE CROP PRODUCTION

A replicated trial was carried out in Herefordshire, UK to investigate the efficacy of vegetable and cereal-based baits for assessing wirewo rm populations in grass fields intended for arable crop production. Ba its were placed either in the bottom of a hole or in a simple trap pla ced in a hole. Wireworm capture using baits was compared with that usi ng unbaited traps and holes and a standard soil core method of samplin g for wireworms. Overall, more wireworms were captured from holes or t raps baited with the cereal seed mixtures than from those baited with carrot or potato. Significant numbers of wireworms were also found jus t outside cereal-baited traps. Soil core samples captured a similar nu mber of wireworms to the vegetable baits. Processing times for individ ual samples (assessed by hand search or a combination of hand search a nd flotation) were also recorded. The use of food baits is potentially a more sensitive and less labour-intensive means of detecting wirewor ms in fields intended for arable production than the methods currently used.