NFU Oilseed Rape Insect Damage Survey – Spring 2015
This is your opportunity to be heard on virus and grazing damage from insects in rapeseed crops. The NFU wishes to collect data for use with regulators in the EU and UK who are seeking information on the level of economic impact this season caused by restricting seed treatments that had previously been used to counteract damage from infestation.
TAKE THE SURVEY HERE.
Slow connection? Can't access the link above? You can download a paper form here.
Required action:
1. Sample fields for cabbage stem flea beetle larvae
2 (optional). Take representative samples of oilseed rape crops for turnip yellows virusdiagnostic analysis (see below for further details)
3. Using data from diagnostic tests complete the NFU questionnaire.
The EU Commission and UK government wish to understand more about both the geographic range of damage in England and Wales and the level of damage at county-level for a number of pests including Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle and aphids spreading Turnip Mosaic Virus.
It would also be useful to understand the effectiveness of control measures taken in 2014/14, and build on the ‘Snapshot’ survey published by HGCA in late 2014.
Here's what you need to do before completing the questionnaire:
An Assessment of CSFB larvae in Spring: The crop should be assessed by dissecting 25 plants collected from the field in a single sample between January and April. The plant stem and leaf petioles from each plant should be dissected with a sharp knife/scalpel.
The cabbage stem flea beetle larvae have three pairs of legs and a dark head. One or two other larval species may be found (e.g. rape winter stem weevil and cabbage leaf miner) but these are very unlikely to be in enough numbers to cause significant damage.
If you were lucky enough not to have been affected by CSFB, aphids may have infected crops with Turnip Mosaic Virus later in the Autumn. Infections can be assessed through your agronomist or directly by collecting typically 20 leaves and sending as samples to a plant disease clinic, which will cost between £60 - £135: