2019
The Impact of Cover Crop Species on Natural Enemies of Slugs in Soybean
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Contributor/Checkoff:
Delaware Soybean Board
Category:
Sustainable Production
Keywords:
Biotic stressCrop protectionField management Pest
Parent Project:
This is the first year of this project.
Lead Principal Investigator:
Ivan Hiltpold, University of Delaware
Co-Principal Investigators:
Bill Cissel, University of Delaware
Project Code:
Contributing Organization (Checkoff):
Delaware Soybean Board
$11,121
Institution Funded:
University of Delaware
$11,121
Brief Project Summary:

Slug damage is common in Delaware and the Mid-Atlantic region. This project explores slug control options beyond chemical control to add to the toolbox for soybean growers. One obvious research avenue is to look at slugs within their trophic environment and exploit the ecosystem services provided by their natural enemies. Providing or conserving ground beetle habitats may enhance the presence of these natural enemies. This research documents how various cover crop species impact ground beetle diversity and abundance. Using the appropriate cover crop species could be highly beneficial in terms of functional biodiversity and slug management.

Key Benefactors:
farmers, agronomists, Extension agents

Information And Results
Project Deliverables

The data has been presented during the Entomological Society of America annual meeting in St Louis in 2019. It will also be soon published in the peer-reviewed literature.

Final Project Results

Updated May 29, 2020:
After 10 weeks of field survey across 12 different cover crop species on two sites, we have collected around 4500 insects among which more than 3000 were potential slug natural enemies. Despite a lot of data of data mining and analyses still remain to be conducted, we have seen promising differences in ground beetle abondance between cover crop species. Crimson clover and forage radish were holding several hundred of beetles whereas annual ryegrass and winter wheat had very low numbers of slug natural enemies. Interestingly and promisingly, the number of slugs we found in our pit fall traps seemed to be negatively correlated with the number of ground beetles, indicating that using certain cover crop species could have a positive impact on soybean by reducing the number of mollusk pests.

View uploaded report PDF file

The use of cover crop impacts the natural occurrence of slug natural enemies with differences between cover crop families and species. Additionally, the more beetles were present, the less slugs were captured. It can therefore be concluded that using the appropriate cover crop species could be highly beneficial in terms of functional biodiversity and mollusk pest management.

The United Soybean Research Retention policy will display final reports with the project once completed but working files will be purged after three years. And financial information after seven years. All pertinent information is in the final report or if you want more information, please contact the project lead at your state soybean organization or principal investigator listed on the project.