Pest control in the trenchesNew journal articles offer useful information for farmers, soldiers

The latest issue of the Entomological Society of America’s(ESA)publication Journal of Integrated Pest Managementcontains articles on using integrated pest management (IPM) to control corn earworms, beetles, and other insect pests, plus an article highlighting the accomplishments of the Research Program for Deployed Warfighter Protectionagainst disease-carrying insects. An ESA release reportsthat among the articles in the issue are:

• In “Corn Earworms (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) as Pests of Soybean,” the authors discuss the life history, ecology, plant damage, and management of Helicoverpa zea as it relates to soybean production.
• In “Plectris aliena (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae): A New Invasive Soil Pest in North Carolina Agro-Ecosystems,” the authors write about the life cycle of Plectris aliena, a new invasive soil pest that is causing significant economic losses in sweetpotato in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
• In “Evaluation of Integrated Pest and Disease Management Module for Shallots in Tamil Nadu, India: a Farmer’s Participatory Approach,” the authors discuss efforts made to evaluate the Integrated Pest Management module for shallots through Farmer’s Participatory Approach in Tamil Nadu, India.
• In “The Deployed Warfighter Protection (DWFP) Research Program: Developing New Public Health Pesticides, Application Technologies, and Repellent Systems,” the authors write about the DWFP program accomplishments, including the rodent feed-through technique with insecticidal baits for controlling phlebotomine sand flies; developing attractive targeted sugar bait for use against mosquitoes and sand flies; developing a lethal oviposition trap for container-breeding mosquitoes and evaluating using pyriproxyfen (an insect growth regulator) and autodissemination by these mosquitoes to block their reproduction and metamorphosis; defining the limitations of insect repellents against infected vectors; and developing the Florida Fly Baiterand several types of novel sprayer equipment for insecticide application.

The Journal of Integrated Pest Management is published by the Entomological Society of America(ESA), the largest organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and people in related disciplines.