Source: RUTGERS UNIVERSITY submitted to
DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF REDUCED-RISK INSECT PEST MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR BLUEBERRIES
 
PROJECT DIRECTOR: Polavarapu, S. Govindasamy, R. Pavlis, G. Isaacs, R. Drummond, F.
 
PERFORMING ORGANIZATION
ENTOMOLOGY
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
NEW BRUNSWICK,NJ 08903
 
NON TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Blueberries are grown in over 30 states valued at nearly 190 million US dollars. Organophosphate and carbamate insecticides have been the cornerstone of insect pest management in blueberries for over 40 years. The implementation of the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996 is expected to limit the use of these insecticides on food crops. Loss of organophosphates and carbamates may have a disproportionate impact on minor crops such as blueberries because of the limited range of products registered, zero tolerance for insect pests, diverse group of pests with high potential for infestation, and quarantine and contamination concerns. The goal of this project is to develop and implement new reduced-risk strategies that are proven to be effective and economical, and thereby reduce exposure to residues of organophosphates and carbamates. This project brings together research and extension specialists involved in all aspects of IPM development, an economist, Cooperative Extension Service county agents, growers, and commodity-wide grower organizations, to work towards solutions to critical pest management needs of blueberries in NJ, MI, and ME, the three largest blueberry growing states of US.
 
OBJECTIVES: Develop reduced-risk insect management programs, and optimize them under operational conditions. Measure the effects of reduced-risk programs on abundance of natural enemies, pollinators, secondary pests, and conventional insecticide residues. Conduct cost : benefit analyses of adopting reduced-risk programs. Develop and deliver comprehensive educational programs to facilitate adoption of reduced-risk strategies.
 
APPROACH: This project brings together research and extension specialists involved in all aspects of IPM development, an economist, Cooperative Extension Service county agents, growers, and commodity-wide grower organizations, to work towards solutions to critical pest management needs of blueberries in NJ, MI, and ME, the three largest blueberry growing states of US. The goal of this project is to develop and implement new reduced-risk strategies that are proven to be effective and economical, and thereby reduce exposure to residues of organophosphates and carbamates. New reduced-risk pest management solutions are being sought to manage blueberry maggot, cranberry fruitworm, blueberry aphids, blueberry spanworm, and Japanese beetle. Deployment of insecticide-treated spheres and perimeter or border sprays will be evaluated to manage blueberry maggot populations. Temperature-dependent models to predict the phenology of cranberry fruitworm and blueberry spanworm will be developed. Sequential sampling plans to optimize sampling plans for cranberry fruitworm and blueberry spanworm will be evaluated. New selective insecticides that can potentially replace organophosphate uses such as imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, indoxacarb, spinosad, methoxyfenozide, and fenpropathrin will be evaluated and use patterns optimized. A season-long IPM program specific to each of the three participating states, NJ, ME, and MI, will be developed incorporating various elements of the novel technologies. The efficacy and cost-effectiveness of this new IPM program will be compared with the traditional IPM program that relies heavily on organophosphate insecticides. Changes in the levels of organophosphate residues throughout the season and at harvest and in the abundance of natural enemies, pollinators, and secondary pests will be compared among blocks of blueberries under traditional and new IPM programs. A comprehensive educational program comprising annual grower meetings, annual field days, twilight meetings, newsletters, and electronic media to facilitate the adoption of reduced-risk programs will be developed and implemented.
 
CRIS NUMBER: 0192761 SUBFILE: CRIS
PROJECT NUMBER: NJ08947 SPONSOR AGENCY: CSREES
PROJECT TYPE: OTHER GRANTS PROJECT STATUS: TERMINATED MULTI-STATE PROJECT NUMBER: (N/A)
START DATE: Sep 1, 2002 TERMINATION DATE: Aug 31, 2007

GRANT PROGRAM: IP-FQPA RISK MITIGATION
GRANT PROGRAM AREA: Integrated Programs

CLASSIFICATION
Knowledge Area (KA)Subject (S)Science (F)Objective (G)Percent
211112010704.220%
216311011304.280%

CLASSIFICATION HEADINGS
KA216 - Integrated Pest Management Systems
KA211 - Insects, Mites, and Other Arthropods Affecting Plants
S3110 - Insects
S1120 - Blueberry
F1130 - Entomology and acarology
F1070 - Ecology
G4.2 - Reduce Number and Severity of Pest and Disease Outbreaks


RESEARCH EFFORT CATEGORIES
BASIC 10%
APPLIED 80%
DEVELOPMENTAL 10%

KEYWORDS: imidacloprid; blueberries; rhagoletis mendax; coleoptera; insecticides; organic phosphates; integrated pest management; phenology; predictive models; non target insects; cost benefit analysis; stakeholders; aphididae; insect control; management systems; insect ecology; risk management; optimization; measurement; natural enemies; pollinators; pesticide residues; education programs; program planning; extension; cooperative research; carbamates; popillia japonica; information dissemination

PROGRESS: Sep 1, 2002 TO Aug 31, 2007
OUTPUTS: In the final year of the Blueberry RAMP Project, a survey was conducted in each state Michigan, Maine, and New Jersey that measured growers' knowledge and attitude towards reduced-risk practices in blueberries. A multi-state blueberry IPM school was held in New Jersey in 2004, and was attended by 72 growers and other industry personnel. The curriculum consisted of insect and disease pest biology, treatments and monitoring methods. New Jersey research and extension workers gave presentations at 36 grower meetings, with a combined outreach of 2,080 people, and delivered reduced risk/IPM information directly to scouted farms accumulating over 1,100 individual farm visits per season. More than 80 articles were published in newsletters http://njaes.rutgers.edu/pubs/blueberrybulletin/ with a total circulation of over 18,000 (not including Web access). In Maine, three winter blueberry schools (one each year, held in three different locations around the state) were a forum for the presentation of three seminars related to the research findings of the RAMP project. Titles were: 1) The RAMP research project: objectives and goals, 2) Potential for neonicotinoid insecticides in blueberry pest management, and 3) Reduced Risk Insecticides for management of the blueberry maggot fly. Approximately 350 growers attended these workshops. In January 2005 and 2006 workshops on reduced-risk insecticides and pest management were presented to approximately 80 growers each year at the Maine Agricultural Trade Show held in Augusta, ME. Twilight grower's meetings were held in the months of May, June, and July in three blueberry growing regions in Maine. Approximately 40 growers attend these meetings each month. A summer grower field day has been held at the University of Maine Blueberry Hill Research Farm in July since 2003. Three summer blueberry grower field days held at the University of Maine Blueberry Research Farm. An annual blueberry insect control measures was published, featuring the use of Reduced Risk Insecticides in lowbush blueberry. In Michigan, two RAMP field days during 2005 attracted 100 growers, and presentations at winter grower meetings have reached over 300 growers. Four grower summer workshops (2 in 2005, 2 in 2006) presented results in the main blueberry production regions of SW Michigan. Eight formal grower meeting presentations were conducted at The Great Lakes Fruit and Vegetable Meeting, the Michigan Blueberry Grower Spring Research Update, and the Southwest Michigan Hort Days. Four out-of-state presentations were held at the New England Fruit and Vegetable meeting, in New Hampshire (2) and at the North Carolina Open House (2). Drs. Isaacs, Wise, and Garcia gave presentations at the Bilingual IPM Scout Training Workshops to over 60 growers and trained growers and scouts regarding reduced-risk IPM practices. Articles were distributed through the CAT Alert system and a project website: http://www.isaacslab.ent.msu.edu/RAMP/ was developed. Two grower newspaper magazine articles (Fruit Grower News) were published. Production of fact sheets and other pest information were posted online at www.blueberries.msu.edu. PARTICIPANTS: Dr. Cesar Rodriguez-Saona, Extension Specialist in Entomology, Rutgers University, became the Principal Investigator of the project after the unfortunate death of Dr. S. Polavarapu.

IMPACT: 2002-09-01 TO 2007-08-31 For the past four years, a research-extension-commodity team across three leading blueberry producing states (Michigan, New Jersey, and Maine) has worked under a Blueberry RAMP Project to develop and implement reduced-risk IPM programs targeting insect pests. As a result, there has been successful adoption of some reduced-risk insecticides. For example, in Michigan during 2005 Confirm 2F (methoxyfenozide) was used on 34% of the blueberry acreage for cranberry fruitworm control and Provado 2F (imidacloprid) was applied to 8% for aphid control. A survey conducted in Maine in January 2007 showed that 22.7% of growers have already incorporated some reduced risk insecticides into their pest management programs. Adoption is starting because high levels of fruit protection from infestation are possible with reduced-risk insecticides, as we demonstrated for blueberry maggot managed with spinosad and imidacloprid in the RAMP program fields across three states. Control was equivalent to that achieved using the standard organophosphate programs based on Malathion and Imidan, with much more aggressive spray programs used in highbush blueberry (Michigan, New Jersey) than in lowbush blueberry (Maine). Blueberries managed under the RAMP program also had between 45% and 58% lower amounts of insecticide active ingredient applied than those grown using grower's standard programs, with even greater reductions in the total amount of insecticide residue detected on leaves and fruit at harvest. While these findings demonstrate significant benefits of the Blueberry RAMP program, control of blueberry maggot, cranberry fruitworm, Japanese beetle, and other key pests was achieved using more expensive reduced-risk insecticides. These insects drive the majority of insecticide applications in US blueberries, and our RAMP programs included imidacloprid, spinosad, and some neem formulations because of the very small number of reduced-risk insecticide registered for use in blueberry. As a result, insecticide costs in the RAMP programs were 33% higher in Maine ($36.45 more per acre) and 96% higher in Michigan ($62.56 more per acre) compared to the Grower Standard programs. In New Jersey, growers' standard programs already include Admire for control of oriental beetle and blueberry aphids, and so the RAMP program implemented with IPM scouting was able to save these growers some cost: the RAMP fields were $27.77 per acre less expensive than the standard program. Implementation of reduced-risk IPM programs is expected to provide additional benefits to growers in the form of greater natural pest control and improved pollination. Due to the high value of the blueberry crop, there is great potential for insects to provide value to growers through natural insect control or through pollination, which might offset the cost of scouting or selective pesticides. However, at the scale and time-span of our RAMP project, measurements of aphid parasitism, prey removal by carabids, carabid abundance, and abundance of pollinators indicated that abundance of these insects was not affected by implementation of the RAMP program.

PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 2002-09-01 TO 2007-08-31
Barry, J. D., and S. Polavarapu. 2005. Feeding and Survivorship of Blueberry Maggot Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) on Protein Baits Incorporated with Insecticides. Florida Entomologist. 88: 268-277.

PROJECT CONTACT INFORMATION
NAME: Polavarapu, S.
PHONE: 609-726-1590
FAX: 609-726-1593