End Slug Menace

Troubled by slugs? The latest research suggests luring them away from crops and plants with clover. Slugs are major pests of many crops, but current methods of control are often unreliable, so researchers studied a number of different legumes to find one which slugs prefer to lure them away from crops. This research will be published online in the SCI journal Pest Management Science on 12 February 2003 and in the March 2003 print issue.

The common field slug (Deroceras reticulatum Müller) is a major pest of winter wheat in the United Kingdom. Molluscicides can be used to prevent the damage caused by slugs but these chemicals sometimes harm other organisms and increasingly farmers want to avoid using chemicals. Biological control of slugs by their predators can be very effective but it is also expensive. So there is a distinct need for an alternative approach to slug control.

Researchers from Harper Adams University College, Shropshire, have now shown that slugs exhibit distinct preferences for the leaves of various legume plants. The team led by Andrew Brooks assessed the palatabilities of various leaves to the field slug compared with winter wheat.

They found that there is a clear hierarchy of acceptability of different leaves to the field slug. These pests favour red clover, lucerne, lupin and white clover over six other species tested, and red clover is the slugs’ favourite food source.

“Red clover produced the greatest reduction in mean wheat consumption,” said Andrew Brooks. “When offered the choice between red clover and winter wheat, the amount of wheat consumed decreased by 78%.”

According to Andrew Brooks, “There is a strong potential for common legume species to act as an alternative source of food, or trap crop, for the most damaging agricultural pest, the grey field slug. It is essential that a legume that is highly favoured by the slugs is chosen and red clover offers a strong possibility.”