As in past years, Dr. Brian Hogg at USDA’s Western Regional Research Center in Albany, California, is seeking research sites for bagrada bug research, and is interested to hear about bagrada bug infestations anywhere in California.
This is the time of year when bagrada bug populations usually start increasing in cole crop fields. High numbers may also be found on weeds, especially shortpod mustard and perennial pepperweed.
Any cole crop fields or weed patches that are infested with bagrada bug would work for our purposes. Time constraints prevent us from visiting sites more than four hours’ drive from the San Francisco area, but we have collaborators elsewhere in the state.
We are surveying for resident parasitic wasps and predators that attack bagrada bug eggs. The long-term goal is to introduce parasitic wasps from the bagrada bug’s native range (Pakistan) that we are currently testing in our quarantine facility.
Interested growers can contact Brian Hogg at brian.hogg@ars.usda.gov.
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Brian Hogg es entomólogo investigador del Servicio de Investigación Agrícola del USDA. El principal objetivo de su investigación es mejorar el control de las plagas agrícolas invasoras mediante el uso de agentes de control biológico. Sus proyectos de investigación actuales incluyen el control biológico de la chinche bagrada y la drosófila de alas moteadas; el movimiento de la chinche bagrada y la drosófila de alas moteadas en el paisaje de los cultivos; y la eficacia de los enemigos naturales residentes de la chinche bagrada y la drosófila de alas moteadas.