Potato Review

PESTS IN-FIELD Strategic Partner WASHERS & DESTONERS POLISHERS TURNKEY SOLUTIONS INNOVATION COMBINED BOX TIPPLERS IN-TAKE OPTICAL SORTERS GRADERS From single machines to complete turnkey solutions the potato industry trust Haith to handle it. +44 (0) 1302 831911 sales@haith.co.uk www.haith.co.uk Haith-Potato Review-Half Page-QA Advert ART.indd 1 22/06/2022 09:06 Development work was undertaken earlier this year to assess the new trap design and three lure types: A standard single species lure; a multi-species lure using the standard polyvial dispenser format and a multi- species lure using a new dispenser design. e new dispenser design containing a multi-species formulation signi cantly outperformed the other two lures and attracted all three pest species. e majority of the beetles caught were the commonest species, Agriotes lineatus but good numbers of Agriotes obscurus were also trapped in addition to small numbers of Agriotes sputator. Technical Manager for IPS Dr Sam Jones said: “ is is really good news for farmers and growers who have to battle with this very common and damaging pest species. Often when pheromone formulations are developed to attract multiple species, we see a loss in e cacy when compared to a single species variant. “However, this was not the case for Agriotes lineatus in this trial which showed that the IPS multi-species lure variant can be used with con dence. e IPS trap was found to perform as well other traps in the eld and o ers a more robust option for growers. Attraction maybe further improved by using a second lure within the bucket and this will be researched in 2023.” e comparative trial was carried out on land used to grow a variety of root and vegetable crops for Jones Farm Shop, located close to Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, England. “Often when pheromone formulations are developed to attract multiple species, we see a loss in e cacy when compared to a single species variant. However, this was not the case for Agriotes lineatus in this trial.” Dr Sam Jones, Technical Manager, IPS