VL Insect Trap: A Low-Cost Management Tool for White Grub

Light traps are an effective tool for monitoring and trapping of insect pests. When used for mass trapping, this helps in checking the egg laying process by breaking the life cycle of the pest and thus, reducing the grub population in the next generation. Hence, development of efficient, low cost, user-friendly light-based insect trap was undertaken for the management of phototactic adult beetles. This works on the principle of the attraction of Scarabaeid beetles towards the light. All light traps attract and capture beetles but this is designed specifically for Scarabaeids with the negligible capture of beneficial insects.

• This is a lightweight hanging model, which is more user-friendly and specific to white grub beetles.
• The fins make the light more reflective and also act as a hitting plane for the attracted beetle which is further directed to a collection pot through a funnel.
• The weight of the trap is only ~2 kg and hence, can easily be carried to difficult regions.
• Energy saving CFL tube is used as light source, which attracts more number of beetles.
• Unlike other models, it traps very less and negligible number of benefits.
• The light trap was found highly effective for monitoring and mass trapping of white grub beetles.