FIELD TRIALS ON THE ASSESSMENT OF WHEAT BLOSSOM MIDGE, 1954-56.

This article discusses the field trials conducted on wheat blossom midge at the Hertfordshire Institute of Agriculture in Saint Albans, England from 1954-1956. During the years 1954-56 field trials were carried out on the wheat blossom midges Contarinia tritici Kirby and Sitodiplosis mosellana Gehin to obtain information on wheat yields in relation to larval abundance in commercial crops and to investigate problems in assessing the larval infestation. In 1956, the trial was enlarged to include an assessment of cereal thrips. Based on the trials, attacks by wheat blossom midge were very slight on the experimental sites in all years and caused no detectable loss in grain yield. In the virtual absence of any pest attack yields were in fact consistently lower on the sprayed plots, indicating that the dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane sprays had reduced grain yields.