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WOOSTER, Ohio, March 8 (UPI) -- U.S. agriculture researchers say geraniums might hold the key to controlling Japanese beetles, which feed on nearly 300 plant species.
Scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service say the beetle (Popillia japonica) costs the ornamental plant industry $450 million each year in damage.
Although the beetle feeds well on a wide variety of plants -- including ornamentals, soybean, corn, fruits and vegetables -- within 30 minutes of consuming geranium petals, the beetle becomes paralyzed, rolls over on its back and remains there for several hours.
The researchers say the beetles typically recover within 24 hours when paralyzed under laboratory conditions, but they often are killed in field conditions when predators spot and devour them while they are helpless.
ARS entomologist Chris Ranger at the agency's Application Technology Research Unit in Wooster, Ohio, says he is working on developing a way to use geraniums to control the beetles.
The study appears in the journal Agricultural Research.
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