Entomology Research Group

The PhD students are:

Field

Field experimentation is supported by the facilities and staff at CERC that enable the completion of plot and field scale research to be undertaken following commercial practice. A wide range of crops can be established including key arable (e.g. cereals, oilseed rape, sugar beet) and horticultural crops (e.g. soft fruit, field vegetables, ornamentals).

Laboratory

The Jean Jackson Entomology Laboratory is equipped with three Weiss Technik Fitotron plant growth rooms. We maintain cultures of a wide range of pest and beneficial species of importance to agricultural systems. This includes 12 species of aphid, including key pests of field grown crops such as cereals, oilseed rape, potatoes and peas and beans as well as pests of horticultural crops. The laboratory is also equipped with Noldus EthoVision as well as Observer image tracking software, a range of insect olfactometers (Y-tube and Petterson 4-arm) and an insect flight tunnel with which to study insect behaviour. Portable air entrainment kits are used to study plant responses to insect herbivory. Analysis of air entrainment samples is possible at the Princess Margaret Science Laboratories using an Agilent GC-MS system equipment with a Marks thermal desporption unit. In addition, the laboratory is equipped with electrical penetration graph (EPG) system with which to study the feeding behaviour aphids and other species of Homoptera. A Photron Fastcam Mini UX50 high speed digital camera enabling insect flight to be recorded and analysed. Finally the laboratory is equipped with a Biomark RFID tracking system capable of recorded the movements of insects and slugs within crop habitats.

Glasshouse

Harper Adams has a range of glasshouse and polytunnel facilities for experimental work, including the Jean Jackson Glasshouse, which is representative of the modern, commercial crop environments and has been designed such that it can be retrofitted as new technology emerges, such as LED lighting systems.

Research Projects

• Biological Crop Protection: A New ‘Slow Down-Speed Up’ Strategy for Aphid Management
• 'Catch me if you can' – improving monitoring and control of black vine weevil (Otiorhynchus sulcatus) in soft fruit and ornamental crops
• Improved in-crop monitoring and use of trap cropping as a novel approaches to the integrated pest management of aphid BYDV vectors in winter cereals
• Integrating botanical biopesticides and macro biological controls for improved management of pests of protected pepper crops
• New approaches to aphid control in strawberries, combining botanicals with natural enemies
• Potential of biopesticides and optimising use of conventional insecticides for control of cabbage stem flea beetle (Psylliodes chrysocephala)
• Radio-tagging earwigs to understand the breakdown in successful woolly apple aphid, Eriosoma lanigerum (Hausmann) control
• Reducing the impact of cabbage stem flea beetle on oilseed rape in the UK
• Resistance and susceptibility in interactions between apple and woolly aphids
• Sources of resistance to aphids in mutation derived cowpea and bean genotypes and the potential of silicon to further reduce the impact of this crop pest
• Integrated Management of Insects Vectoring Plant Diseases in Indonesia

Knowledge Transfer

The ability to transfer results from research activities to growers, agronomists and wider industry is core activity of the Entomology Group. This is achieved through a range of methods:

• Teaching: undergraduate degree programmes, taught postgraduate degree programmes, and professional development courses for industry e.g. BASIS.
• Authoring articles in professional journals and on-line sources.
• Making presentations at industry meetings.
• Interviews and press releases to the arable farming and horticultural press.
• Technology Transfer days at Harper Adams.

The Entomology group undertake consultancy projects utilising the broad range of staff expertise in these areas. We can also utilise expertise available within other groups, for example engineering, to deal with multi-disciplinary work.

Commissions from international and national clients include:

• Advice for research programmes.
• Articles for technical journals.
• Data evaluation and interpretation.
• Development of pesticide application methods.
• Evaluation of pesticides, biological control agents and biopesticides.
• Expert witness work.
• Feasibility studies.
• Literature reviews.
• Production of technical materials for marketing purposes.
• Staff training programmes and workshops.