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Soybean aphids prove to be major pests for soybeans
Information from Purdue University Web site
Insect pressure and unfavorable weather are two culprits that will steal any grower’s soybean yields long before harvest.
Although growers can’t predict what Mother Nature has in store for the 2009 growing season, they can protect their fields from sucking and chewing pests, such as soybean aphids, bean leaf beetles and Japanese beetles.
“Aphid infestations that peak at the R1–R2 growth stage of the host may cause stunted plants with reduced pod and seed counts, resulting in lower yields,” according to a North Central Pest Management Center “Soybean Aphid Regional Pest Alert” posted on the Purdue University Indiana Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey Program Web site.
Yield loss isn’t the only problem insects can bring. Soybean aphids are “capable of transmitting a number of viruses present in the United States that naturally infect soybeans,” according to the alert.
University researchers have set the aphid threshold at 250 aphids per plant on 80 percent of the plants scouted.
To find out more from Purdue University on the soybean aphid, click here.
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