Growers at UNL Wheat Tour get update on wheat stem sawfly

Chabella Guzman Author

07/26/2024 Added

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Jeff Bradshaw, UNL Director of the Doctor of Plant Health Professional Program and Entomologist, explains some of the research on the Wheat Stem Sawfly at the UNL High Plains Ag Lab.

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[00:00:00.000]Research of the wheat stem sawfly is ongoing at the UNL High Plains Ag Lab.
[00:00:04.100]Jeff Bradshaw, UNL Director of the Doctor of Plant Health Professional Program
[00:00:08.260]and an entomologist, explains more on what Team Sawfly has been finding in its research.
[00:00:13.540]In this study, we're trying to understand the impact of wheat stem sawfly on yield.
[00:00:19.440]We all understand that wheat stem sawfly causes lodging, and that lodging certainly has an impact
[00:00:27.960]on yield, but we have also come to learn that the wheat stem sawfly actually, when that larva
[00:00:34.340]is feeding within the stem, that feeding activity itself actually reduces head weight.
[00:00:39.620]So that's one aspect that we've been studying in these plots that are either open to sawfly
[00:00:46.280]or caged to keep the sawflies out.
[00:00:48.240]The other aspect of that study we're looking at, because the High Plains Ag Lab has the benefit
[00:00:56.420]of having...
[00:00:57.420]having the parasitoid here that attacks the wheat stem sawfly.
[00:01:00.640]So in our open plots in that study, we had the opportunity to look at the potential of
[00:01:07.040]the parasitoid of preventing wheat stem sawfly from injuring the plant.
[00:01:11.860]So our student took a number of measurements looking at the amount of injury that the wheat
[00:01:17.700]stem sawfly did on a tiller.
[00:01:19.380]And he had some tillers or stems that were infested with both the wheat stem sawfly and
[00:01:25.700]the parasitoid.
[00:01:27.100]And so he was able to kind of segregate these different populations and look at stems that
[00:01:32.240]were infested, but also had the parasitoid.
[00:01:35.280]Bradshaw tells us more on what they're finding.
[00:01:37.640]Even though the parasitoid kills the wheat stem sawfly, it seems like it doesn't prevent
[00:01:43.800]the injury from happening within the stem.
[00:01:45.640]So we think that maybe the parasitoid isn't attacking the sawfly early enough.
[00:01:51.460]And then, therefore, we're also not seeing any protection that that sawfly can give to prevent that loss in head weight.
[00:01:57.700]Again, the sawfly's parasitoid is really important because it does ultimately kill the sawfly.
[00:02:03.860]Unfortunately, it's just not killing it soon enough to prevent injury.
[00:02:07.680]But it does prevent the sawfly from completing development and, therefore, keeps that sawfly from actually cutting the wheat.
[00:02:15.300]Bradshaw also discussed the regional sawfly research that is getting started.
[00:02:20.600]A regional collaboration between the University of Nebraska, Colorado State, North Dakota, Montana State,
[00:02:29.020]as well as a number of different USDA ARS units are involved in working as a team to try to solve this wheat stem sawfly problem.
[00:02:39.240]So we've got breeders and plant physiologists and entomologists and cropping system specialists all kind of working together.
[00:02:46.940]We've been grouping together over the past year to try to understand.
[00:02:49.960]And. How we can work together more efficiently by sharing information and leveraging one another strengths to tackle this problem,
[00:02:50.060]which is something actually in the past that hasn't happened as much, which is this high level of teamwork approach for finding solutions to wheat stem sawfly.
[00:03:10.520]So that's something we're working on right now.
[00:03:13.400]Cody Creech just submitted a large USDA grant.
[00:03:16.940]We're cautiously optimistic.
[00:03:19.520]We're optimistic on whether or not that gets funded, but we've got some really great partners.
[00:03:25.060]We're doing some other really great work with USDA ARS as key partners in this as well.
[00:03:29.420]Again, that is Jeff Bradshaw, UNL Director of the Doctor of Plant Health Professional Program and Entomologist.
[00:03:36.060]AgWatch has been brought to you by the UNL Panhandle Research Extension and Education Center.
[00:03:41.900]Subtitles by the Amara.org community

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Growers at UNL Wheat Tour get update on wheat stem sawfly

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