Comparison of suction and beating tray sampling for apple pests and their natural enemies

Abstract

A beating tray and suction sampler were compared for their efficiency in sampling apple trees, and at determining the diversity of arthropods present in an apple orchard block managed for biological fruit production. Arthropods were identified to " recognisable taxonomic units " , and the Shannon-Wiener diversity index was calculated. The suction sampler consistently recovered significantly greater species diversity. Another experiment investigated the efficiency of the suction sampler, in relation to a subsequent destructive sample of foliage. The suction sampler collected ca. 60-70% of the taxa present on apple foliage under biological, integrated, or conventional fruit production. Suction sampling offered practical advantages but required greater laboratory input. Both methods could be used if their limitations are recognised, and require 10-15 samples for reasonable precision.