LACOMBE, Alta. – It is estimated root maggot in canola costs farmers $100 million in crop losses each year, but researchers are hoping a tiny pest with a voracious appetite can help reduce the damage.
Lloyd Dosdall, entomologist with the University of Alberta, said he’s hoping Aleochara, a beetle that can eat up to 23 to 25 root maggot eggs, a day will help out an important prairie crop.
“It’s a voracious predator,” Dosdall said during an agriculture field day of Alberta research plots at federal and provincial sites.
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By studying the conditions that encourage the parasite, Dosdall hopes to reduce root maggot damage in canola. There are no insecticides available for control of root maggot.
Preliminary research shows the parasitic beetle prefers fields of zero tillage canola over conventional tillage. Now, he wants to know how the beetle responds to seeding rates and row spacing.
Dosdall said the project to alter production practices to reduce crop damage from pests is one of the first projects of its kind.
If it proves successful, it may be an inexpensive way to control root maggot.
“These insects have a tremendous capacity to do damage.”
Root maggots overwinter in the soil as pupae. In the spring the insect looks like a housefly and lays eggs at the base of the canola plant.
The maggot burrows into the root of the canola and reduces pod formation. It also creates an entrance into the root that encourages fungal growth and reduces yield.
In Europe, farmers are finding that creating beetle banks, or areas of undisturbed crop land running through fields, act as natural homes for the beneficial beetle.
Conditions have been ideal for the development of parasitic beetles at the Lacombe site. Dosdall said 70 percent of the root maggot pupae have a parasitic larvae attached, which should reduce root maggot infestations next spring.
