Theses and Dissertations Collection

Increased prevalence of agricultural pests in cereal fields of Southeastern Idaho is associated with increased population density of virulent pathotypes with high level of resistance to conventional control methods. The situation is caused by continuous planting of susceptible cultivars and failure in management strategies and is now to become a serious threat to the Idaho’s cereal productions. Two major pests are responsible for most of the damage: cereal cyst nematode Heterodera avenae (CCN), and wireworms (the larval stage of click beetles Coleoptera: Elateridae). When the absence of high-yield resistant cultivars and lack of effective registered nematicides are the two main challenges of the CCN management, the increase in wireworm’s population and their damage is the results of failure in all conventional control strategies against wireworm. In my four years studies, along with the characterization of CCN population and assessment of resistance and tolerance of spring wheat cultivars, I successfully isolated populations of entomopathogenic nematodes form southeastern Idaho that could provide great biological control against wireworms. The results would hopefully provide a platform for the future agricultural studies