Insect Management in Rye Cover Crops
Rye cover crop adoption has increased in recent years as a mechanism to reduce erosion, improve soil health, and mitigate nutrient losses. This talk will focus on the insect management implications of rye adoption (specifically winter or cereal rye), including impacts on pests and beneficial arthropods. Preliminary results will be presented from a series of field studies conducted in Illinois to survey cover crop fields for insect damage, pest species, and beneficials. In addition, the implications of practices such as spring termination timing will be discussed, as well as management recommendations for specific pests.
Speaker
Nick Seiter
Dr. Nick Seiter is a Field Crop Entomologist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He develops management recommendations for insect pests of corn and soybean. He has Bachelors and Masters degrees in Entomology from Purdue University and a PhD in Entomology from Clemson University. Current areas of research include managing Bt-resistant corn rootworm, characterizing the pest and beneficial insect population inhabiting cover crops, and developing economic thresholds for soybean defoliators.