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From Twitter

14 November 2022
Pest management
Project reports
#IPMPopillia
In September 2021 we started the big field experiment in the Piedmont region, a highly infested zone. Giovanni Bosio from the plant health service of the Piedmont region found meadows which were not treated yet and with willing owners to let us do ex...
22 June 2022
Other
Pest management
Project reports
#IPMPopillia
In collaboration with colleagues from CREA (Florence), we have treated popillias with three experimental control protocols that appear as promising candidates in their hands. Treated popillias have been snap frozen for molecular analysis. In the next...
21 June 2022
Other
Pest management
#IPMPopillia
Definitely not my ususal workweek! I am an economist at the Technical University of Munich, usually sitting in an office with a computer and conducting research there. But not this time… As I am part of the IPM Popillia project, which consists o...
JHMU771_20221114-201000_1 Working in the field with the Swiss Alps in the background

The Big Field Experiment

In September 2021 we started the big field experiment in the Piedmont region, a highly infested zone. Giovanni Bosio from the plant health service of the Piedmont region found meadows which were not treated yet and with willing owners to let us do experiments with different biological control agents (BCA).

We treated the meadows with 2 different strains of fungus, 2 different strains of nematodes and of course a control treatment. This experiment was carried out by team Agroscope and team Crea.

In the fields we count the number of larvae and take soil samples back to the lab to verify if our biological control agent is still present. We did this before treatment (September 21), after treatment (November 21) after the winter (April 22) and then yearly in November.

Over all we have:

  • 3 big fields
  • 6 different treatments
  • 10 repetitions
  • 9 holes per plot
  • 18-20 people

This equals in a total of 1'620 holes which we need to dig up and check thoroughly (or ~90 holes per person).

As the year is slowly coming to an end, we met once again on the field. 

Team Agroscope had their lunch directly on the field, which also allowed time for siesta.

Work always needs to be fun. And we usually have a lot of that!

This undertaking is not only a combined experiment between two research groups, it has become a lot more. What started with a collaboration has turned into friendship. 

And since most of us are entomologist, we are not only interested in the Popillia larvae.

Open- day at CREA
A review of the progress made by PESSL III

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 EU Flag This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 861852

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