Recent work on wheat bulb fly

The growth of individual plants of Capelle wheat attacked by larvae of Hylemya (Leptohylemyia) coarctata (Fall.) was compared at Rothamsted with that of unattacked plants growing in the same crop. Attacked plants were slow to grow and had fewer shoots and ears than unattacked ones. Plants that died were killed directly by the larvae, not by competition with unattacked plants. Only unattacked plants showed compensatory growth, and in late-sown crops the number of ears per undamaged plant was negatively correlated with the density of the plant population surviving attack.