Congratulations to Tilmon Lab members for their recent publication featuring the Asiatic garden beetle (AGB) grub. "Active and passive sampling methods for grubs of the Asiatic garden beetle, Maladera formosae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), in a corn-soybean rotation" was published in the March 2023 issue of Crop Protection. This research was led by Dr. Adrian Pekarcik during his time in the Tilmon Lab. Amy Raudenbush, Eric Richer and Kelley Tilmon were listed as co-authors on the publication. The objective of this reserach project was to evaluate various sampling methods for AGB grubs in corn production systems. Methods evaluated included the compact cutter, golf hole cup cutter, and wire-mesh bait station. The cup cutter was found to sample more grubs per soil volume and was more sensitive to smaller grub populations. In addition, setting up bait stations detected AGB before planting. Overall, the cup cutter was determined to be the best overall sampling method because it only required a single trip to the field. This research is an important step towards standardizing a sampling method that will enable researchers to predict future infestations. We hope that with this research we will be able to develop field thresholds for AGB grubs when sampled in the fall and spring. Congratuations Adrian, Amy, Eric and Kelley on this great acheivement!
For the full publication, click here!