Managing locust and grasshopper with portable electric net

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 Highlights

·       Locust is a global pest of wide economic importance.

·       An innovative way of managing locust and grasshopper with a portable electric net is identified.

·       Portable electric net was tested against grasshoppers in the field and was found promising.

Abstract

Locusts are a voracious pest of agriculture and are found in different parts of the world. Several strategies have been developed to manage locusts, but they are still out of control due to their migratory nature. The new strategies focus on controlling locusts and are mostly eco-friendly and tend to protect beneficial organisms. Hence, a device with a portable electric net is introduced to control locust and grasshopper and has been found promising at the field level.

Keywords: locust, grasshopper, mosquito killing net, portable electric net, eco-friendly management

 Desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) is a global pest of wide economic importance. It is the most devastating pest because of its ability to damage the crops and its swarming and gregarious nature. It can migrate up to >100 kilometers per day, and therefore national and international collaborations are required to prevent its outbreak (Zhang et al., 2019; Lorenz, 2009; McNary et al., 2011). Till permanent management is confirmed but understanding of the behavior and ecology of this pest has increased with its molecular study (Chapuis et al., 2014). Therefore, there is a chance that the control of this pest could be discovered in the near future.

Locust control is a tedious job and requires huge monetary investment with international support (FAO, 2018). Mostly, low and middle-income countries and the farmers suffer more due to the unavailability of technology and resources. Primarily, contact-based insecticides are used to kill swarming locusts through aerial means of drones and aircraft and have been found highly effective. Ultra low volume (ULV) sprayers are preferred if infestations are of limited extent (Huis et al., 2007). Although insecticides are used, they are very costly and have severe environmental hazards and killing many beneficial organisms (Zhang, 2011). Alternatively, biopesticides like Metarhizium anisopliae var. acridum and Paranosema locustae have been found promising against locust and grasshoppers (Zhang and Hunter, 2005). This practice has become popular among the farmers who adopt integrated pest management or organic farming for crop production since it protects ecologically important non-target groups like pollinators, termites, ants, and locust predators (Hunter, 2010). The Desert locust component of the FAO Emergency Prevention System (EMPRES) also aims to ensure safe uptake of pesticides without any side effects on other organisms (FAO, 2006).

  Figure 1. A portable electric net is commonly used to kill mosquitoes. This net can also be used to kill and deter grasshoppers and locusts from the field.

A locust local outbreak could be managed efficiently either by spraying pesticides or by allowing predators to target the target species. National and regional locust teams destroy such local outbreaks and other important populations before they gregarize after breeding. Farmers also break the chain of swarming locust in many ways, like making loud audio sounds, covering crops and vegetables with a net, smoking around the target area, and using insecticides (Eriksson and Wiktelius, 2010; Huis et al., 2007; Robert, 1989). Besides that, local outbreak can also be managed with an eco-friendly innovative technique which use a portable electric net (usually used to kill mosquitoes) to kill locust and grasshoppers in the field (Fig. 1). The portable electric net was tested to kill grasshoppers living around the crop plants and the result was promising which indicates that the net could also be used against locust to break the small swarming chain and reduce crop infestation. A portable electric net with high voltage is more efficient in managing grasshoppers and locusts in the field than the available electric mosquito net. Thus, such a net could also be used as an alternative to biopesticides, which have no side effects either on plants or other insects. Drones can also be modified with an electricity-generating surface, which might help to break gregarious locusts into small groups and minimize crop damage. Since locust was not available in Nepal and therefore grasshopper was used for experimentation.

 Conflict of interest

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Submission declaration and verification

This is my personal opinion and has never been published nor submitted to any journal.

Funding

No funding was received for this work.

Keywords: locust, electric net, grasshopper, pest management

References

Chapuis, M.P., Plantamp, C., Blondin, L., Pages, C., Lecoq, M., 2014. Demographic processes shaping the genetic variation of the solitarious phase of the desert locust. Mol. Ecol. 23:1749–1763.

Eriksson, H., Wiktelius, S. 2010. Impact of chlorpyrifos used for desert locust control on non-target organisms in the vicinity of mangrove, an ecologically sensitive area. International Journal of Pest Management 57(1):23-34. doi 10.1080/09670874.2010.499611

F.A.O., 2006. EMPRES brochure: Desert Locust component http://www.fao.org/ag/locusts/en/publicat/docs/1344/index.html

F.A.O. U.N., 2018. Madagascar locus crisis. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. http://www.fao.org/emergencies/crisis/madagascar-locust/en

Huis, A.V., Cressman, K., Magor, J.I. 2007. Preventing desert locust plagues: optimizing management interventions. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 122:191 214. doi 10.1111/j.1570-7458.2006.00517.x

Hunter, D.M. 2010. Credibility of an IPM approach for locust and grasshopper control: the Australian example. J. Orthoptera Res. 19:133–137.

Lorenz, M.W. 2009. Migration and Trans-Atlantic flight of locusts. Quaternary International, 196(1-2):4-12. doi https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2007.09.038

McNary, T.J., Shambaugh, B.A., Elliston, R.J., Brown, C.L. 2011. Cooperative rangeland grasshopper suppression in Wyoming (USA) in 2010. Metaleptea 31:10–12.

Robert, D. 1989. The auditory behavior of flying locust. Exp. Biology 147:79-301.

Zhang, L. 2011. Advances and prospects of strategies and tactics of locust and grasshopper management. Chinese Journal of Applied Entomology, 4.

Zhang, L., Hunter, D.M. 2005. Laboratory and field trials of Green GuardR Metarhizium anisopliae var. acridum (Deuteromycotina: Hyphomycetes) against the oriental migratory locust (Locusta migratoria manilensis) (Orthoptera: Acrididae) in China. J. Orthoptera Res. 14:27–30.

Zhang, L., Lecoq, M., Latchininsky, A., Hunter, D. 2019. Locust and grasshopper management. Annual Review of Entomology, 64:15–34. doi https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ento-011118-112500

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