STILLWATER, Okla. – Sorghum producers discovered a new pest in their crops on the Gulf Coast of Texas in the summer of 2013. Less than a year later, the sorghum aphid (known at the time as the sugarcane aphid) decimated Oklahoma sorghum, causing more than a 40% reduction in grain yields and thousands of dollars in economic losses for farmers.
Having no familiarity with the sorghum aphid, most producers didn’t realize how quickly the pests would multiply or what that multiplication would cost them. By the time many Oklahoma growers realized they had a problem, sugarcane aphid populations had reached numbers nearly impossible to control. All sorghum fields suffered that year. Some were lost altogether.
Enter the Oklahoma State University Integrated Pest Management Team.
THE IPM OKLAHOMA! LEGACY
From 2016 to 2021, the IPM OKLAHOMA! team addressed the aphid problem by screening for effective insecticides and host plant resistance while also developing economic thresholds and a rapid scouting tool. These research efforts have saved Oklahoma growers $6.2 to $14.4 million annually in lost grain yield.
The applied in-field insecticide screening research resulted in the registration of three new insecticide active ingredients for controlling sugarcane aphids. Other research in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture identified several hybrids and numerous germplasm lines resistant to sorghum aphids.
Researchers also learned that the adoption of resistant hybrids in combination with insecticides reduced yield losses. In-field research on aphid distribution led to the development of the Glance-N-Go sampling smartphone app, which to this day, reduces sampling time and saves growers from unnecessary insecticide applications.
Through it all, Tom Royer was the highly respected captain of the IPM OKLAHOMA! ship. He joined OSU Extension in 1997, starting as the IPM program coordinator in 2006.
“Dr. Royer opened up the IPM program to researchers in other areas, and it broadened the impact of the IPM program and brought it up to the level it’s at now,” said Justin Talley, head of the OSU Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology. “His impact on IPM programming and how he leveraged IPM funds allowed other scientists to garner over $10 million in IPM funding. That means $4.17 from every $1 invested in the IPM program came back to the program.”
Royer’s approach involved working with OSU Extension specialists in the OSU College of Education and Human Sciences to develop several programs related to IPM for homes and schools.
“Royer has had a big impact on the state, and not just in a single area,” Talley said. “He was never focused on one general commodity. Through his efforts in the IPM program, he broadened the scope and impacted cattle, wheat, sorghum and many other industries.”
Talley previously served as the OSU livestock entomologist in the IPM program, recently receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Livestock Insect Workers Conference.
Royer and Kris Giles, an OSU Regents professor in entomology and plant pathology, developed multiple tools to support the wheat, sorghum and canola industries, including the Glance-N-Go system and app.
Giles worked with Royer over several decades to integrate his research on what makes pests and beneficial insects successful into pest management practices by incorporating biological control and other approaches, such as host plant resistance and justifiable use of pesticides.
“The successes we’ve had as a team, which included USDA-Agricultural Research Service scientist Norman Elliott, happened because we were able to plan and conduct research over multiple growing seasons to ensure reliable deliverables for growers,” Giles said.
Another unique development during Royer’s tenure was the musk thistle weevil program. After the IPM team discovered that weevils naturally controlled a problematic weed found in pastures, Royer recruited Extension educators to start “weevil roundups” in which they collected the weevils and released them into fields infested with the musk thistle.
“It was one of the most successful endeavors in the IPM program. They reduced herbicide applications by almost 3.2 million kilograms of active ingredients, so it was also a benefit to our environment,” Talley said.
Royer retired from OSU in February 2023 after 26 years of service, leaving some big shoes to fill.
THE BRIGHT FUTURE OF IPM OKLAHOMA!
Ashleigh Faris, the new OSU IPM program coordinator, has wasted no time continuing Royer’s legacy in her first year on the job. She has attended field days and tours and conducted a survey to determine Oklahoma wheat producers’ biggest needs with IPM.
“Dr. Faris has a great background for not only carrying on what Dr. Royer was doing but for expanding it by looking at the science and the producer,” Talley said. “She’s thinking about what pests we need to control and how to control them, but she is also thinking about how producers perceive IPM and how they perceive particular problems.”
Faris said she has dedicated her first year at OSU to meeting producers, industry leaders and Extension professionals statewide and learning what IPM issues they face. She previously worked for Texas A&M AgriLife Extension in College Station, Texas.
“Coming from Texas, my background in agricultural production, pests and benefi cial insects has come from a lot of the Texas coastal bend area, which entails very different cropping systems and agronomic practices, so I am having to do some homework,” Faris said. “The best way for me to learn is to get out and meet and learn from individuals about how agronomic practices happen in Oklahoma.”
Several research trials the IPM team will pursue in the next year include testing crops to see how they fare without certain insecticides that the Environmental Protection Agency might cancel for agronomic uses.
“There is something special about working with people who have so much invested in terms of their own time, money, and oftentimes, familial history with working in cropping systems.”
Members of the IPM OKLAHOMA! Team include: Ashleigh Faris, assistant professor & Extension cropping systems entomologist & IPM coordinator Kris Giles, Regents professor in entomology and plant pathology Jenny Dudak, assistant professor in plant and soil sciences Mustafa Ojonuba Jibrin, assistant professor & horticulture pathologist Liberty Galvin, assistant professor & Extension weed science and precision weed management specialist Swati Shrestha, assistant professor in plant and soil sciences Jonathan Cammack, assistant professor and state Extension specialist, livestock entomology and parasitology Maxwell Smith, cotton IPM research & Extension specialist Maira Rodrigues Duffeck, row crop plant pathologist Meriem Aoun, small grains pathologist “The IPM program is unique, and if you understand why IPM is important and invest in it, it’s going to take you far,” Talley said. “I look forward to working with our new faculty. They have great ideas and approaches for what’s going on today. Oklahoma State University will keep being able to say that we’ve been a major contributor to this field.”
