Managing the Rutherglen bug burden

摘要

RUTHERGLEN bug (RGB) has been an increasingly frequent and very problematic pest for grain growers in Queensland and New South Wales over the past 10 years, but recently observed behaviours are causing further concerns.Senior entomologist with the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) in Queensland, Dr Melina Miles said over the past four years agronomists have observed that large numbers of RGB - which breed in canola crops - have caused damage to establishingsummer crops.This type of damage is in addition to the significant yield losses that can be attributed to RGB adults in sorghum and sunflowers during grain fill."Our observation of this damage in seedling summer crops is relatively new," Melina said.