ARABLE: Field evaluation of synthetic blends of semiochemicals for monitoring and control of wireworms

线虫是欧洲和北美谷类作物和根茎类蔬菜的主要害虫。种子处理和其他接触性杀虫剂被用来保护作物免受幼虫取食的损害。然而，欧洲目前的化学选择正在被取消，何时以及是否可以注册一种新的土壤杀虫剂来管理线虫是非常值得怀疑的。信号化学品(自然产生的发育和改变行为的化学品，如不同的挥发物)对环境的危害不会达到它们所需的水平，并可为土壤害虫管理提供一种“绿色”替代方案。与地上昆虫类似，土生节肢动物也会被气相中并扩散到土壤孔隙中的根挥发物吸引或排斥。二氧化碳是一种普遍的引诱剂，而根释放的挥发物是更具体的中档信号，有助于土壤害虫跟踪和找到它们的寄主植物。我们已经从作物根中识别出，并在实验室行为研究中创造了吸引线虫的合成挥发性混合物。我们现在的目标是测试它们是否在更现实的环境中保持其诱人的特性，即农作物田地。这个项目的主要目的是用这些合成混合物(诱饵)进行田间试验，以检查它们是否能够将大量线虫吸引到我们将在项目期间建造的含有萌发种子的陷阱中。无论有没有诱饵，这种诱捕器都会被埋在农田的土壤中，并定期检查是否有捕获的线虫。一方面，我们想看看有诱饵的陷阱是否比没有诱饵的诱饵诱捕更多的线虫，这将表明它们适合在播种前进行精确的虫害监测。另一方面，我们将测试诱捕器，看看它们是否能捕捉到足够的线虫来减少对作物的损害，并将它们的性能与杀虫剂处理进行比较。这将告诉我们，诱饵诱捕器是否可以取代杀虫剂，并为种植者提供一种替代线虫管理工具。拟议的研究是制定线虫管理监测和引杀策略的重要一步，也可以扩展到其他土壤害虫的管理。

Wireworms are major pests of cereal crops and root vegetables in Europe and also in North America. Seed treatments and other contact insecticides are used to protect crops from larval feeding damage. However, current chemical options are being withdrawn in Europe and it is very questionable when and if at all a new soil insecticide could be registered for wireworm management. Semiochemicals (naturally occurring development- and behaviour-modifying chemicals, such as different volatiles) are not harmful to the environment at the level they are required and can provide a "green" alternative for soil pest management. Similar to aboveground insects, soil-dwelling arthropods are also attracted to or repelled by root volatiles that occur in the gas phase and diffuse in soil pores. Whereas carbon dioxide is a universal attractant, root-emitted volatiles are more specific, mid-range signals that help soil pests to track and find their host plant.We have identified from crop roots and created synthetic volatile blends that attract wireworms in laboratory behavioural studies. We now aim to test if they retain their attractive properties in more realistic setups, i.e. crop fields. The main aim of this project is to thus carry out field trials with these synthetic blends (lures) to check if they are able to attract large numbers of wireworms into traps, containing germinating seeds, that we will build during the project. Such traps with and without the lures will be sunk in the soil in agricultural fields and checked regularly for captured wireworms. On the one hand, we want to see if traps with lures catch more wireworms then those without lures, which will indicate that they are suitable for precise pest monitoring before seed sowing. On the other hand, we will test lured traps to see if they can catch enough wireworms to reduce crop damage, and we will compare their performance with pesticide treatments. This will tell us if traps with lures can replace pesticides and provide growers with an alternative wireworm management tool.The proposed study is an important step in the development of monitoring and attract-and-kill strategies for wireworm management, which could also be extended to the management of other soil-dwelling pests.