IPM for Whitegrubs in Australian Sugarcane: From a Continuing Success to Regressing to the Past
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REVIEW ARTICLE
IPM for Whitegrubs in Australian Sugarcane: From a Continuing Success to Regressing to the Past Peter G. Allsopp1
Received: 1 August 2020 / Accepted: 24 September 2020 Society for Sugar Research & Promotion 2020
Abstract Recent research, development and extension (RD&E) activities on sugarcane whitegrubs in Australia are reviewed. Whitegrubs are the key pests in Australian sugarcane, and, following severe damage in the 1990s, there was a concerted RD&E programme to develop and implement a broad-based approach to their management. Studies since the middle 2000s have added to the knowledge on their taxonomy, the insecticides available for infield use, tools to warn of developing insecticide resistance, methods for application of insecticides under the current farming system, better risk prediction and farming systems that might minimise their impact. However, despite a continuing extension message and the undoubted rationale behind an integrated approach, the effectiveness and cheapness of imidacloprid mask the benefits of any system and growers have regressed to reliance on that one insecticide to manage the pests. Future R&D needs to focus on the use of newer insecticide chemistry and the development of cheap and easy-to-use systems for predicting risk from whitegrubs and allowing the minimisation of insecticide use. Keywords Canegrubs Scarab larvae Sugarcane Australia Management Insecticides
& Peter G. Allsopp [email protected] 1
30 Jacksonia Drive, Seventeen Mile Rocks, QLD 4073, Australia
Introduction Whitegrubs or canegrubs, larvae of a complex of endemic melolonthine scarabs (Miller and Allsopp 2000), are the key pests in Australian sugarcane. They feed on the roots and underground stalk material (the stool that produces new shoots) of sugarcane plants, reducing plant vigour, crop yield and sugar content. Where root loss is severe, the plant’s ability to regenerate and produce subsequent ratoon crops is severely impaired. Stools may be removed inadvertently during mechanical harvesting, further reducing subsequent yield potential and adding undesirable levels of soil to milling. It is the third-instar larvae that cause the most damage. The genera Lepidiota (ten species), Antitrogus (four species), Alepida (three species), Dermolepida (one species) and Rhopaea (one species) are involved (Allsopp 2010, 2018). Dermolepida albohirtum (greyback canegrub), which has a 1-year life cycle, is the most damaging species and occurs in all areas except southern Queensland and New South Wales. Either Lepidiota negatoria (negatoria canegrub) or L. frenchi (French’s canegrub) occurs in all areas—both have 2-year lifecycles. Antitrogus consanguineus (southern 1-year canegrub, 1-year lifecycle) and An. parvulus (Childers canegrub, 2-year life cycle) are significant pests in sandy and heavy clay soils, respectively, of southern Queensland (Allsopp 2010). The other species are more localised. Many species show a strong preference for specific soil types controlled by oviposition responses
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