Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T08:04:41.602Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Observations on the Occurrence of Larval Infestations of Wheat Bulb Fly, Leptohylemyia coarctata (Fall.)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

D. B. Long
D. B. Long
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The efiect of the previous crop on the subsequent infestation of winter wheat by the Wheat Bulb Fly, Leptohylemyia coarctata (Fall.), mainly on the clay-loam of Rothamsted Experimental Farm has been investigated for the years 1954 to 1956. By far the highest larval populations followed fallows, the next highest potatoes, which are a low, open cover crop, whilst much lower populations followed the tall crops of beans and wheat, and very small infestations followed the grass mat covers. This confirms the results of previous workers under different agricultural conditions.

Previous applications of dung and straw influenced the infestation following fallow in dry summers but not in a wet year. The effects of other manurial treatments were inconclusive.

An experiment designed to determine the effect of the crop density on oviposition was inconclusive due to the failure to establish an infestation.

Wheat was shown to influence the flight path and to interfere with local egg-laying behaviour, producing a horizontal effect of up to twice its own height.

Apart from the foregoing factors, at Rothamsted, where the wheat fields are well separated, the differences in the level of infestation that were observed could be explained by close proximity or otherwise to a centre of heavy fly infestation.

Reasons are put forward for suggesting that the effect of the previous crop on oviposition may be interpreted in terms of the opportunity existing for contact with the soil rather than as a preference on the part of the fly.

Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , March 1958 , pp. 113 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1958

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Gemmill, J. F. (1927). On the life-history and bionomics of the Wheat Bulb Fly (Leptohylemyia coarctata., Fall.).—Proc. R. phys. Soc. Edinb., 21, pp. 133–158.Google Scholar
Gough, H.C. (1946). Studies on Wheat Bulb Fly (Leptohylemyia coarctata, Fall.). I. Biology.—Bull. ent. Res., 37, pp. 251–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gough, H. C. (1949). Studies on Wheat Bulb Fly, Leptohylemyia coarctata, Fall. III. A survey of infestation in Yorkshire.—Bull ent. Res., 40, pp. 267–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Long, D. B. (1958). Field observations on adults of the Wheat Bulb Fly (Leptohylemyia coarctata (Fall.)).—Bull. ent. Res., 49, pp. 77–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raw, F. (1954). Observations on Wheat Bulb Fly infestation of Broadbalk wheat plots.—Plant Path., 3, pp. 134–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raw, F. (1955). The effect of soil conditions on Wheat Bulb Fly oviposition.— Plant Path., 4, pp. 114–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rostrup, S.. (1924). Kornets blomsterflue (Hylemyia coarctata) i Danmark 1903–1923.—Tidsskr. Planteavl, 30, pp. 713–759.Google Scholar
Stokes, B. M. (1955). Host plants of Wheat Bulb Fly.—Plant Path., 4, pp. 102–105.Google Scholar