WERA_OLD066: Integrated Management of Russian Wheat Aphid and Other Cereal Aphids
Statement of Issues and Justification
Aphid pests including Russian wheat aphid (RWA), Diuraphis noxia, and Greenbug, Schizaphis graminum, are occasionally serious pests of cereal crops in the U.S. Since being introduced into the United States in 1986, RWA has spread throughout the western Great Plains cereal production area, the Pacific Northwest, and the desert Southwest. The total economic damage in the United States caused by RWA has exceeded $1 billion since 1986, considering crop loss (approximately $394.3 million), cost of pest control (approximately $95.6 million), and lost revenue to rural economies (indirect costs of approximately $517.6 million). Annual losses attributed to greenbug average $12 million per year in the central and western Great Plains and parts of the inter-mountain basin, but can increase to over $100 million per state during severe outbreaks. RWA is a chronic annual pest of cereals in southeastern Colorado and causes localized periodic damage throughout the rest of its distribution range of the western continental U.S. Crop losses from aphid pests are most common on stressed plants grown in marginal soils. Damage from RWA is most common in low rainfall, dryland cereal production areas, where growers tend to have the narrowest profit margins. Damage from greenbug occurs throughout the Western Region, but is most severe when rainfall is low.
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