Design and Evaluation of an Aerial Spray Trial with True Replicates to Test the Efficacy of Bacillus thuringiensis Insecticide in a Boreal Forest

Abstract

A field trial using true replicates was conducted successfully in a boreal forest in 1996 to evaluate the efficacy of two aerially applied Bacillus thuringiensis formulations, ABG 6429 and ABG 6430. A complete randomized design with four replicates per treatment was chosen. Twelve to 15 balsam fir (Abies balsamea [L.] Mill.) per plot were randomly selected as sample trees. Interplot buffer zones, ≥ 200 m wide, adequately prevented cross contamination from sprays that were atomized with four rotary atomizers (volume median diameters ranging from 64.6 to 139.4 μm) and released ≈30 m above the ground. The B. thuringiensis formulations were not significantly different (P > 0.05) from each other in reducing spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana [Clem.]) populations and protecting balsam trees from defoliation but both formulations were significantly more efficacious than the controls. The results suggest that true replicates are a feasible alternative to pseudoreplication in experimental forest aerial applications.