Comparison of mechanical and chemical weed control in sugar beet – Impact on pest insects and epigaeic predatory arthropods

In 2019 to 2021, effects of different weed control strategies in sugar beet on pests and beneficial insects were examined at seven locations in Lower Saxony. The different strategies included conventional spraying, band spraying in the row together with mechanical hoeing between the rows and mechanical hoeing between the rows along with hand hoeing in the row. The various beneficial and pest insects were caught using different trapping methods. For the majority of arthropod populations, either no differences or hardly any significant differences were reported between the three different weed control strategies. Significant effects could only be found on single dates, but these were also not directed in the same direction. According to the results from the photoeclector catches and visual assessments, hoeing three times and chemical weed control had comparable effects to the on the arthropod populations evaluated in this study.