CSFB Field lab on Innovative Farmers webpage

This Innovative Farmers Field Lab investigated defoliation as a control for cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB) larval populations in oilseed rape.

It worked with eight farmers to look at the potential for controlling cabbage stem flea beetle by mowing and grazing OSR crops

The results showed that both topping and grazing successfully cut the number of larvae by 39%, but this reduction came with a yield penalty, with an average reduction of 14%.

View a write up of results on Farmers Weekly website here - https://www.fwi.co.uk/arable/crop-management/pests/osr-defoliation-tackles-flea-beetle-but-yields-suffer

View the project on Innovative Farmers website here 

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Invertebrate pests cause problems in agriculture when the level of injury they cause reaches a point where the crop yield is significantly reduced.   

The Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle (CSFB)  Psylliodes chrysocephala is a key pest on OSR in the UK and across the EU. They are specialist herbivores of plants in the crucifer's family.