The goal of this project was to expand our electronic trapping and monitoring system in Kansas and evaluate the ability of our trap design to predict severity of infestations in nearby sorghum fields. The proposed research project will increase producer profitability and enhance the agricultural industry by providing sampling tools and an early warning system to alert sorghum stakeholders of pest activity in sorghum, thus helping protect yields from a major sorghum pest. The project provides a strategy to identify and target technologies and/or practices that solve specific insect and disease problems. Our specific objectives were to: 1) expand our automated trapping system across major sorghum growing regions in Kansas; and 2) assess trap accuracy at multiple locations in Kansas sorghum production
fields and evaluate overall value of trap in predicting sorghum headworm infestations.
This project was initially funded by a North Central Region IPM minigrant and later supported by Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission.