Raudenbush and Team Present AGB Bioassay Methods Poster

July 27, 2023

A poster was developed to present virtually at the 2022 annual Entomology Society of America Meeting titled "A Bioassay Method to Evaluate Efficacy of Insecticides Against the Asiatic Garden Beetle". This posted was developed by Amy Raudenbush, Adrian Pekarcik, Chris DiFonzo, Zane Raudenbush, Jon Witter and Kelley Tilmon. The Asiatic garden beetle is a pest of corn in sandy soils. The grubs feed on the corn seeds and roots in early development causing the plants to be stunted or even die. The products currently available for white grub species do not perform well against the Asiatic garden beetle. Therefore, a bioassay was developed to evaluate a number of products against the AGB. The first round of bioassays was designed in 2019 to mimic field conditions and evaluate a number of products applied in-furrow at plant.

Each bioassay contain er is filled with autoclaved soil, an untreated pre-germinated corn seed (to ensure the seed is viable), one field collected AGB 3rd instar grub and the treatment (applied with a pipette in a straight line to minmic field application techniques). After 7 days, each container is destructed to determine if the AGB is alive or dead. A control with a water application is also included in the trial to compare mortality in treated versus untreated containers. 

Recently (in 2023), in addition to in-furrow products, the bioassays have been expanded to look at seed treatments. These bioassays have successfully evaluated a number of modes of action against AGB to give us an idea of which products to use against AGB in the field. To view the poster, click here!