THIS RESEARCH IS AN INTEGRATED APPROACH THAT INVESTIGATES THE MANAGEMENT OF THE BURROWER BUG (PANGAEUS BILINEATUS), A CROP PEST OF PEANUTS IN SOUTHERN UNITED STATES, WITH A COMBINATION OF ENTOMOPATHOGENS AND SELECT INSECTICIDES. PRODUCTION OF PEANUTS IN THE STATES OF ALABAMA, SOUTH CAROLINA, TEXAS AND GEORGIA IS THREATENED BY BURROWER BUG, WHICH FEEDS EXTENSIVELY ON PEANUT PODS IN FIELDS.POPULATIONS OF THIS PEST THAT WERE BELOW ECONOMIC INJURY LEVEL IN PREVIOUS YEARS SURGED IN 2010 CROP SEASON. CONSEQUENCES OF INFESTATION BY THIS PEST INCLUDE DOWNGRADING OF PEANUT QUALITY RESULTING IN SUBSTANTIAL LOSS OF REVENUE TO FARMERS. FEEDING LESIONS CREATED BY THIS BUG ARE SITES FOR INFECTION OF PEANUTS BY ASPERGILLUS FLAVUS WHICH IN TURN PRODUCES AFLATOXIN, A KNOWN CARCINOGEN. THESE LOSSES WARRANT A SEARCH FOR IPM TOOLS THAT WILL REDUCE THE BUG'S POPULATIONS. SINCE THIS PEST BURROWS IN THE SOIL AND SPENDS MOST OF ITS LIFE CYCLE FEEDING ON MATURE PEANUT PODS, IT IS A CANDIDATE FOR CONTROL USINGPEST MANAGEMENT TOOLS THAT INCLUDE SOIL DWELLING ENTOMOPATHOGENS AND CHEMICALPESTICIDES.PRELIMINARY RESEARCH INDICATED SYNERGY BETWEEN A NEMATODE AND A STANDARD CHEMICAL INSECTICIDE, AND THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL BUILD UPON THIS FINDING. THE OVERALL GOAL OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO DETERMINE BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL INSECTICIDES THAT WILL SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE LOSSES OF PEANUT TO P. BILINEATUS. SEVERAL STRAINS OF ENTOMOPATHOGENIC NEMATODES AND FUNGI WILL BE SCREENED FOR INFECTIVITY TO P. BILINEATUS.COMBINED APPLICATIONS OF THESE BIO-PATHOGENS AND CHEMICAL INSECTICIDES WILL ALSO BE INVESTIGATED FOR EFFICACY AGAINST P. BILINEATUS. FIELD-SCALE EXPERIMENTS OVER MULTIPLE LOCATIONS WILL BE CARRIED OUT THE LAST TWO YEARS OF THE PROJECT. THE RESULTS FROM THE STUDY WILL PROVIDE NEW TOOLS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF THE BURROWER BUG. THE PROJECT TEAM HAS STRONG RESEARCH AND EXTENSION TIES TO THE PEANUT INDUSTRY TO ENSURE RAPID DISSEMINATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF RESULTS.