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College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences

Priyanka Mittapelly, Ph.D. Candidate, Entomology Department

Priyanka Mittapelly, Ph.D. Candidate, Entomology Department Advised by Dr. Andy Michel Project: Studying the population and feeding preferences of brown marmorated stink bug on different soybean varieties

Advised by Dr. Andy Michel

Project: Studying the population and feeding preferences of brown marmorated stink bug on different soybean varieties

 

 

The brown marmorated stink bug, BMSB (Halyomorpha halys) is a notorious polyphagous pest that is native to East Asian countries like China and Japan. It was first detected in the U.S. near Allentown, Pennsylvania around 1996. Since then, BMSB has spread rapidly and is currently found in 44 states in the U.S. and 4 Canadian provinces. BMSB feeds on more than 169 plant species including important agricultural crops like corn, soybean, as well as many fruits and vegetables. The sucking mouthparts of BMSB cause damage to the plant pods and other reproductive tissues (e.g. fruits) and make them unmarketable. Currently, insecticides are the principal tool for controlling stink bugs, but constant exposure could select for resistant insects.

My study focuses on the BMSB population at different stages of soybean in four different research stations in Ohio. This helps understand the threshold and the spread of BMSB at various stages of soybean in Ohio. Another field experiment including choice and no-choice tests with different soybean PIs helps evaluate feeding preferences of BMSB and also assess the feeding damage caused to the mature soybean seeds. This study will increase our understanding on the spread of BMSB in Ohio, its feeding preferences and the extent of damage caused to soybean. The results from this study can potentially be exploited in developing sustainable pest management strategies