Diabrotica egg separation from soil: an efficient and fast procedure for monitoring egg stages of corn rootworm...

Maize growers repeatedly are confronted with the need to make predictions and decisions about which of their fields are likely to develop corn rootworm populations above the economic threshold and are in need of treatment. One of the best parameters that can help as a basis for these decisions are corn rootworm egg counts in the soil. The Western corn rootworms have one generation each year. Females oviposit eggs in the soil in corn fields from late July through early September. These eggs overwinter in the soil and almost all hatch the following June. An apparatus is described that utilizes water, MgSO4 solution and differing screen sieves for extracting the rootworm eggs from the soil samples collected from the field after deciding on an acceptable sampling procedure. Samples may be a composite of subsamples or a number of individual samples taken at various locations in a field. The Illinois machine and the final separation of eggs, using flotation in 2 molar MgSO4 solution, are highly efficient, and recoveries of 97% of rootworm eggs manually placed in samples of soil have repeatedly been achieved. Thus, this would be a useful tool in integrated pest management programs that monitor the density of corn rootworm eggs in corn fields.