Cabbage stem flea beetles (Psylliodes chrysocephala) and pollen beetles (Meligethes aeneus) are two major pests in oilseed rape. In 2019 and 2020, two trials were conducted to demonstrate the use of the FaunaPhotonics Volito sensor to detect these two pests.
In the first campaign, Autumn 2019, two prototype sensors were able to independently pick up an early cabbage stem flea beetle peak days before it showed up in the water traps, despite low numbers of the pest in the field.
In the Spring 2020 campaign, six Volito sensors showed good signs of being able to independently detect temporal trends over the season for pollen beetles.
This gives a good foundation for a use case for the Volito sensors as an early detection system detecting the flying influx of pollen beetles and cabbage steam flea beetles in oilseed rape.