Strategies Leading to Improved Management and Enhanced Resilience against Slugs (SLIMERS)

拟议的工业重点研究项目利用该财团的独特专业知识和能力，开发 ** 具有成本效益的数字化自主鼻涕虫监测，预测和精确处理工具，** 从而提供农场改变游戏规则的解决方案，使英格兰各地的农民受益。鼻涕虫是主要的经济害虫，每年对英国小麦和油菜造成4350万英镑的作物损失。传统上，化学蛞蝓管理依赖于四聚乙醛/甲硫威，然而，这些活性物质由于对环境的影响而在英国被禁止。到目前为止，磷酸铁是唯一剩下的有效化学杀螺剂，但某些颗粒成分已被注意到影响蚯蚓，当大量食用时，可能会毒害宠物。生物杀螺剂也可用，但在耕地和油籽系统中使用不经济。如果没有化学杀螺剂，AHDB估计英国农作物生产的年平均成本超过1亿英镑。因此，加强管理和监测是必不可少的。目前的监测协议使用现场避难所陷阱（如植物托盘诱饵）。农民必须定期检查陷阱，进行蛞蝓计数和比较AHDB阈值限制。然而，许多农民并没有执行这一费力的关键做法，导致不必要的化学灭螺剂的应用。因此，需要精确的服务来可靠地减少蛞蝓颗粒的使用，并以经济可行的方式实施替代生物控制。该项目的产出有可能对英国经济产生重大影响，通过增强数字化自主蛞蝓监测、预测和控制，帮助农场实现提高产量、生产力、可持续性、净零目标、环境效益和恢复力。

The proposed industrial focused research project utilises the consortium's unique expertise and capabilities to develop **cost-effective digital autonomous slug monitoring, forecasting and precision treatment tools,** thus delivering on-farm game-changing solutions to benefit farmers across England.Slugs are major economic pests causing £43.5M crop damage/annum for wheat and oilseed rape in the UK. Traditionally, chemical slug management relied on metaldehyde/methiocarb, however, these actives were banned in the UK due to their impact on the environment. To date, ferric phosphate is the only remaining active chemical molluscicide, but certain pellet ingredients have been noted as impacting earthworms and, when consumed in large quantities, can poison pets.Bio-molluscicides are also available but are uneconomical for use in arable and oilseed systems. Without chemical molluscicides, AHDB estimates total average annual cost to UK crop production \>£100M. Therefore, enhanced stewardship and monitoring is essential.Current monitoring protocols use in-field refuge traps (e.g. plant saucer with bait). Farmers must examine traps regularly, conduct slug counts and compare to AHDB thresholds limits. However, many farmers are not carrying out this laboursome key practice, resulting in unnecessary chemical molluscicide applications. Therefore, precision services are needed to reliably reduce slug pellet usage and implement alternative, biological control in an economically viable way.The outputs of the project have the potential to have a significant impact on the UK economy by helping farms achieve increased yields, productivity, sustainability, net zero targets, environmental benefits and resilience, through enhanced digital autonomous slug monitoring, forecasting and control.