Battling Blueberry Flea Beetles: Students collect odorants from blueberries
Dr. Kirk Hillier and his students are up against a tough challenge. The Blueberry Flea Beetle is one of the key pests facing wild blueberry production in the Atlantic Region. It chews on blueberry leaves, causing plant stress, and on the buds, causing direct crop loss.
With funding from the Growing Forward 2 Program, the NS & NB Departments of Agriculture, the Bleuets NB Blueberries agency, and the Wild Blueberry Producers Association of Nova Scotia, Dr. Hillier’s team (along with colleagues from Dalhousie U) is seeking to develop new monitoring tools, and to identify better ways to forecast and manage insect infestations and outbreaks.
Here, MSc students, Simon Pawlowski and Jesse Saroli, are collecting odorants from blueberries which may attract blueberry flea beetles, in a field in Debert, NS. These project builds on work being funded through an ACOA-AIF led by Dr. Hillier. (Photo Credit: Kirk Hillier)