ARGE Innobrotics

Short description

However, the corn rootworm does not only cause damage at the roots or on the corncob of the maize crop, but also by leaf feeding on various vegetable crops. In particular in the field of vegetable growing partly merely the presence of the beetle is sufficient that deliveries are rejected by wholesale trade. The damage in the field of crop cultivation is, however, continued in the related sectors, with the livestock farming sector being most severely concerned.
The experiences made at international level so far have not been sufficient in order to get the problem effectively under control. There are a number of approaches to solutions, which are, however, not or only insufficiently coordinated, and are not implemented all over the country either. There exists also not enough knowledge about the efficiency of combinations of measures and alternatives to chemical measures which are compatible with organic farming.
It is planned that the experiments in the field of crop cultivation
• demonstrate those methods of treatment and/or combinations of methods in the field of corn rootworm control, which are, from the economic as well as from the ecological point of view applicable to conventional as well as to organic farms.
• present in combination with the experiments in animal production usable alternatives to the forage plant maize.

Point of departure

Since the first occurrence of the corn rootworm in Austria (2002) there has been - starting out from the Southern Federal Provinces (Styria, Burgenland, Carinthia) - an exponential propagation of the pest. In 2014 the population reached - not least due to the prohibition of neonicotinoids as seed dressings - a new all-time high. However, the corn rootworm does not only cause damage at the roots or on the corncob of the maize crop, but also by leaf feeding on various vegetable crops. In particular in the field of vegetable growing partly merely the presence of the beetle is sufficient that deliveries are rejected by wholesale trade. The damage in the field of crop cultivation is, however, continued in the related sectors, with the livestock farming sector being most severely concerned. The experiences made at international level so far have not been sufficient in order to get the problem effectively under control. There are a number of approaches to solutions, which are, however, not or only insufficiently coordinated, and are not implemented all over the country either. There exists also not enough knowledge about the efficiency of combinations of measures and alternatives to chemical measures which are compatible with organic farming. It is planned that the experiments in the field of crop cultivation

• demonstrate those methods of treatment and/or combinations of methods in the field of corn rootworm control, which are, from the economic as well as from the ecological point of view applicable to conventional as well as to organic farms.
• present in combination with the experiments in animal production usable alternatives to the forage plant maize.

Targets and target groups

The main goal of the project was to maintain the added value through a high proportion of self-produced feed in animal husbandry, as well as the best possible substitution of the main crop maize with alternative crops. The specific goals of the project were as follows:
Screening and testing of alternative feed bases to maize in feeding
Testing the alternatives in agriculture
Research into sustainable, effective, ecologically compatible control of larvae and beetles
Determination of possible implementation barriers based on socio-economic studies
Targeted dissemination of the results in agricultural practice

Project implementation and measures

The main project steps were:

• Project management, monitoring and coordination during the entire project period
• Planning, implementation, evaluation and description of the results of the plant cultivation experiments
• Planning, implementation, evaluation and description of the results of the experiments in the animal production area, which include feeding experiments on cattle, pigs and poultry as well as experiments on feed preservation
• socio-economic study on barriers to implementation
• Analysis of cooperative land use systems
• Targeted dissemination of the results through print and online media, through lectures and individual consultations

Results and effects

Further research is needed on the Western corn rootworm:
(a) Varietal resistance of maize against the pest,
(b) a large-scale feeding trial on the direct use of millet whole plant silage (as an alternative to maize silage) in cattle feeding,
(c) Development of alternative feeding strategies to meet the challenges induced by climate change (drought, pest infestation, etc.),
(d) stabilising the preservation of whole grain silage of millet or maize using nitrogen,
(e) Influence of the use of millet in pig feed on the consistency and characteristics of faeces
(f) In the socio-economic field, there are still outstanding issues
- which of the factors identified have the greatest influence on the implementation of individual and cooperative diabrotica regulatory measures
- into which types Austrian farmers and farmers can be distinguished with regard to the implementation of these regulatory measures and
- the extent to which these types can be distinguished on the basis of the factors identified.
(g) There are still open questions regarding modelling
- to use the monitoring data to model the seasonal development of the beetle population
- to develop models for the joint analysis of the effects caused by legal requirements and those caused by voluntary measures
- which information is necessary to derive concrete damage potentials from the modelled corn rootworm infestation risk