Emmanuel Solomon

The Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle (CSFB; Psylliodes chrysocephala) has been a major insect pest of winter oilseed rape (OSR; Brassica napus) in the UK and other European nations.

Despite the high market price and demands of OSR, since the European Union banned neonicotinoid seed treatments in 2013 by European Union, there has been a huge loss in OSR crop protection and production due to damages caused by increasing CSFB pressure.

There is therefore the need to find a susatainable pest management strategies to minimise insect pest damage to OSR.

Emmanuel is currently working on identifying genetic markers that are useful for developing resistant variaties to combact CSFB-associated damage to oilseed rape.