Adapted from Proceedings of the UNL Crop Production Clinics 2009, pp. 93-96.

Economic Thresholds for Today’s Commodity Values

Thomas E. Hunt, Extension Entomology Specialist
Robert J. Wright, Extension Entomology Specialist
Gary L. Hein, Extension Entomology Specialist

This article will discuss economic thresholds, their commodity (e.g. soybeans, corn). In figure 1 we see a
development, and the effect of high commodity value on hypothetical damage curve. There are 7 components to
their determination. this damage curve; tolerance, overcompensation, the
damage boundary, compensation, linearity, desensitization,
Definitions and inherent impunity.

First, let’s start with some definitions. Different

disciplines often use terms a little differently, and
definitions can vary somewhat among entomologists or
even context. So, we will review a few definitions as they
relate to arthropod pest management in field crops.

Injury: The physical harm to a commodity caused by the

activity of a pest (e.g., eating leaves, tunneling through
stalks, eating grain, etc.).

Damage: The value (in dollars or utility) lost to the

commodity as a result of pest injury (e.g., yield loss,
quality reduction, etc.). Not all injury results in damage.

Damage curve: The relationship between injury and yield. Figure 1. The damage curve and its components.

Economic injury level: The smallest number of pests (or Tolerance is when plants can sustain some injury
injury) that will cause yield losses equal to the pest without any effect on yield. Overcompensation is
management costs. observed in some plants, where a small amount of injury
actually increases yield slightly (e.g. light defoliation of
Economic threshold: The density of a pest (or level of soybean). The damage boundary is the point at which
injury) at which control measures should be initiated to yield loss caused by injury is detectable. Compensation is
prevent an increasing pest population from reaching the where there is increasing yield loss per unit of injury, and
EIL. linearity is where there is maximum yield loss per unit of
injury. Desensitization is where there is decreasing yield
Economic Threshold Development loss per unit of injury, and inherent impunity is where
there is no more damage per unit of injury.
Today it is understood that pest management, not pest The damage curve in figure 1 is hypothetical. All
eradication, is the most desirable strategy for dealing with plants may not display the complete set of damage curve
pests to maintain environmental quality and to improve net components, and a number of factors can affect the
profits. Usually, some levels of pests are tolerable and do relationship between injury and yield loss (i.e. the damage
not cause significant economic damage. Indeed, a low curve). These factors include the type of injury, the timing
level of pests is usually desirable to maintain populations of injury, the intensity of injury, the location of injury (e.g.
of natural enemies. Consequently, assessing pest status is plant part, plant strata), and various environmental factors.
critical. This is done by sampling to estimate how many The type of injury is important because it determines
insects are present or how much injury is occurring, and how the plant is impaired by the injury (e.g. reduced
then weighting the impact of the pests against the current photosynthesis), and can be classified as indirect, direct, or
costs of managing them. quantal injury. Indirect injury is the result of pest activity
Two tools used in this decision process are the (e.g. feeding, tunneling, etc.) that harms a non-yield
economic injury level (EIL) and the economic threshold portion of a plant, such as defoliation of soybean. Direct
(ET). These are procedures for assessing the impact of injury is the result of pest activity that harms a yield
pests on yield and/or quality and the economic costs and portion of a plant, such as feeding on soybean seeds.
benefits of management. Quantal injury is where the quantity injury is independent
of the yield, such as with the transmission of soybean
The Damage Curve mosaic by soybean aphid.
Most yield loss research has been conducted on insect
The damage curve is the relationship between populations that correspond to the linear portion of the
different levels of injury and the yield response of a given
damage curve. This is for various reasons, two of which spray, and therefore can expect to kill a higher percentage
are that most economic damage occurs in the linear portion of the pest (K), then the EIL increases.
of the curve and research with low densities of insects is Anything that changes any of the EIL variables will
extremely difficult, and the high cost of research change the EIL. The EIL can also be thought of as a
necessitates focusing research efforts on the region where “tolerance index”. That is, it indicates how many pests we
the most relevant and useful information can be obtained. can tolerate, given a specific set of costs, benefits, and
plant response to injury. If the crop is of high value and/or
Not All Thresholds are Created Equal susceptible to a particular pest injury, the EILs will tend to
be low, indicating we can tolerate few pests before we
When EILs and ETs have not been established for a incur economic damage. If the crop is of lower value
pest, nominal thresholds (a type of estimate) are used to and/or tolerant of a particular pest injury, the EILs will
aid in making management decisions. Nominal thresholds tend to be high because we can tolerate a higher number of
are used when the relationship between insect injury and pests before incurring economic damage.
economic loss has not been characterized. These Ideally, management action should be taken before a
thresholds are usually not based on research studies pest population reaches the EIL to avoid economic damage
designed to examine specific yield-loss relationships, but that could otherwise be prevented. To achieve this we use
rather on field examination, expert opinion, and the economic threshold or ET, which is based on the EIL.
experience. While better than no thresholds, nominal The ET indicates when to take control action and is the
thresholds often are very conservative and do not reflect pest density at which management action should be taken
fluctuating economic conditions. Currently, many to prevent an increasing pest population from reaching the
extension recommendations are based on nominal EIL. It assumes that once the ET is reached, there is a high
thresholds. They can often be identified as being a fixed probability that the EIL will subsequently be reached if no
number or simple range (e.g. 4 insects per sweep, 2-4 management action is taken. Because the ET is directly
larvae per foot, etc.). related to the EIL, changing economic conditions also will
Simple economic thresholds are research based, result in fluctuating ETs. Figure 2 presents the typical
calculated from EILs, and are often expressed as tables, relationship between the EIL and ET.
such as bean leaf beetle on seedling soybean ET tables, or
interactive worksheets.
Comprehensive economic thresholds are research
based, often being complex models that may include a
plant growth model, an insect seasonal development Untreated Population
Population Size

model, interactions with weed and disease biology and

management, and so on. There are few truly
comprehensive economic thresholds, although there are EIL
Treatment Applied
quite a few that are somewhere in between a simple and ET
comprehensive level. Interestingly, an economic threshold Damage Boundary

derived from a relatively comprehensive research base is Treated Population

that for soybean aphids on soybean, which is expressed as
a single value, 250 aphids/plant with aphid populations
increasing.

EIL and ET Calculation Time

The EIL can be thought of as the break-even point Figure 2. The relationship between the EIL and ET.
between economic loss from the pest and the costs of
managing the pest. Because economic conditions (e.g. Note that in figure 2 the damage boundary, the point
commodity market value, management costs) fluctuate, the at which yield loss caused by injury is detectable, is below
EIL will fluctuate. This can be illustrated by considering the ET. This is not always the case, as the damage
how a typical EIL is calculated. The EIL equals the pest boundary can below, at, or above the ET, depending on the
management costs (C) divided by the commodity market specific crop/pest relationship. No damage is occurring at
value (V) times the yield loss per pest (DI) times the pest population levels below the damage boundary. Some
proportion of the pest population controlled (K), or damage is occurring at populations between the damage
boundary and the EIL, but it is not economic damage – it is
EIL = C/(V x DI x K.) below the break-even point (i.e. the EIL). At population
levels above the EIL, economic damage is occurring, and
If management costs (C) increase, then it takes more this is what a management plan that uses ETs is intended
pests to justify control action, so the EIL increases. to prevent.
Similarly, if market values (V) decrease, then more pests At first glance, EIL and ET development and
can be tolerated and again the EIL increases. Or, if you can calculation appear fairly straightforward, and one might
expect to get better than standard coverage when you expect there to be more true ETs and fewer nominal
thresholds. However, while commodity market values and are not single numbers (except in current soybean aphid
pest management costs are fairly easy estimate, a critical recommendations, but that is a special case). They vary
component in EIL, yield loss per pest, can be complicated with crop value, management costs, and insecticide
and difficult to obtain. The major stumbling blocks are efficacy. The ETs will differ between different insecticides
establishing the relationship between pest injury and yield and between different rates of the same insecticide. The
loss and the variability in that relationship. A minimum of higher the crop value, the lower the ET. The higher the
2 to 3 years are required to complete the required research, insecticide cost, the higher the ET. Often EILs and ETs are
and during this time differences in crop varieties, crop presented as single values. If this is all you have available,
production practices, and particularly weather contribute to use the threshold with caution. If there is a table or formula
the variability in measured plant responses. Also, or program for determining ETs, you may be able to
experimental methods can contribute to variability. determine the ET with the specific crop and insecticide
Finding and manipulating the required numbers of insects costs for your situation. In this case, the ET is a better
is problematic and often requires rearing facilities, cages, guideline, but it is still a guide.
etc. Recent economic conditions have uncovered a
Establishing an ET also is extremely complicated. problem for many published thresholds. They simply do
Because the ET represents a prediction of when a pest not consider the high commodity values we have recently
population is going to reach the EIL, we ideally require a experienced. The initial tendency is to lower thresholds,
thorough understanding of the pest’s population dynamics either by some proportional reduction or, if available,
in the cropping system of interest. Again, this requires using the new commodity values in the existing EIL
extensive research beyond that which established the EILs. formula. Although this may be appropriate in some
A major reason we do not have EILs and ETs for every situations, in some it is not, particularly when commodity
pest is the substantial research requirements of labor, time, values are relatively high.
and money required for establishing EILs and ETs. A fundamental reason relates to the damage curve
Consequently, ETs are often based on some percentage of (Figure 1). We know that for many, if not most,
the EIL, such as 80%. relationships between injury and yield response there are
The labor, time, money and experimental constraints certain low levels of injury, and hence pest density, where
also point to other limitations to EILs and ETs. The crop- there is no yield loss (i.e. damage), and for some crops
yield relationships that result from a 2 to 3 year study may there is a slight yield increase – the tolerance or
not be applicable across the entire range of grower overcompensation zones of the damage curve. As noted
management practices or environmental conditions. For earlier, we have very little research on crop injury or pest
example, EILs and ETs determined for 30-inch row populations at these low levels, so we do not know
soybeans may differ for drilled beans. In addition, plant precisely where the point of noticeable damage occurs.
response to injury can be affected by precipitation patterns Simply lowering the threshold proportionally, as might be
and amounts. This illustrates the point that the EIL and ET done with nominal thresholds or some simple economic
are tools for decision making. They should not be the sole thresholds, could set the threshold in the tolerance or
factor considered when making a pest management overcompensation zone, where no yield loss occurs, or in
decision. the compensation zone where the yield loss may not be
EILs and ETs must be used in the context of the economic.
current field conditions and economics. Remember, the use Where EIL formulas exist, one might ask “why not
of thresholds assumes that the fields are properly scouted simply use the new commodity values in the existing EIL
so that decisions can be made when pest problems first formula and use those EILs to determine the new ETs?”
appear. Local weather conditions, crop production While this would likely be an appropriate step when
practices, soils, cultivar selection, field history, etc, will commodity values were only slightly higher than those
vary and should be considered. For example, thresholds originally used in the EIL calculations, for some crops the
may not be valid for circumstances where decisions must recent commodity values have been so much higher that
be made after significant injury (e.g. pest injury, herbicide doing this would be inappropriate. This again relates to
injury) has already occurred. This may seem complicated. the damage curve. As noted earlier, most research has
That’s because it is. However, once you understand the been conducted on insect populations that correspond to
factors going into EIL and ET development, you can use the linear portion of the damage curve. The yield loss per
published ETs as a benchmark, and then adjust them to fit unit of injury is constant along this portion of the curve,
your own conditions. This is essentially what successful and a corresponding EIL formula, such as EIL = C/(V x DI
producers and crop consultants have been doing for years. x K.), assumes this linearity. At curvilinear portions of the
They also illustrate the importance of using the best curve (e.g. the tolerance or compensation zone of Figure
thresholds and the best information to modify our use of 1), the EIL formula no longer applies. One could again be
thresholds. There are a few principles we can use in this setting the EIL at pest densities corresponding to the
process. tolerance or overcompensation zones of the damage curve.
Another reason that simply lowering the thresholds
Using Economic Thresholds may be inappropriate relates to the specificity of the
particular pest/crop system under consideration. For
Remember that ETs, and the EILs these are based on, example, the current economic threshold for the soybean
aphid on late vegetative through R5 stage soybeans is 250 thresholds. Remember, nominal thresholds are already
aphids per plant (field average) with 80% of the plants very conservative, so do not lower them very much, if at
infested and populations increasing. Depending on all. If there is a range, such as 2-4 insects per plant, use
economic conditions, this gives you about five to seven the lower value. Be careful at proportionally lowering
days to schedule treatment before populations reach thresholds from ET tables. If the commodity values are
economic injury levels. The density of 250 aphids per higher, but relatively close to those in the published ET
plant is not only well below EILs, which are typically well table, lowering the ETs is probably appropriate. If the
over twice the ET, but also below the damage boundary. commodity values are much higher (e.g. 2X or more),
No yield loss occurs at 250 aphids per plant. Researchers however, proportionally lowering ETs may be
have observed that once aphid densities reach 250 aphids inappropriate.
per plant, the probability is high that the populations will You can always contact your local extension office or
subsequently reach economically damaging levels, go to http://cropwatch.unl.edu/ for the most current
however, the ultimate density level cannot be predicted. information.
At population densities below 250 aphids per plant, and
particularly below 100 aphids per plant, there is no damage A Final Word
and population densities often remain low. So even when
EILs are lower because of high commodity values, the Even the best threshold is only a guide for your
economic threshold of 250 aphids per plant remains an decision. Good thresholds will help you avoid unnecessary
appropriate trigger to take action. What does happen is insecticide use. Good thresholds also provide a great
that instead of a treatment window of up to seven days, the starting point for considering the specifics of your pest and
treatment window is reduced to 4-5 days. crop situation. The best use of thresholds is to weigh their
likely accuracy (is the threshold a single number, is it
So What To Do? specific to your situation), and then consider how you
might need to modify the decision indicated by the
As indicated above, there is no one-size-fits-all threshold to fit your circumstances. Generally, vigorous
solution to altering ETs. Fortunately, extension crops can tolerate more injury and stressed crops are less
entomologists are aware of this dilemma and are doing able to tolerate injury.
several things about it. Entomologists are working on developing better
Extension entomologists in each state, including sampling plans and better thresholds for improving pest
Nebraska, are reviewing thresholds and addressing higher management decisions. Thresholds are valuable aids for
commodity values when making management producers, but knowing how to use them is at least as
recommendations. In Nebraska, our pest management important as the thresholds themselves. The more we
articles in the CropWatch newsletter understand about the pest situation and the growth of the
(http://cropwatch.unl.edu) will be written considering the crop, the better our pest management decisions are likely
most current and projected commodity values. to be. We may not always have thresholds as good as we
New research is being conducted to better describe the might like, and we may not always have as much
entire damage curve for various pest/crop systems. For information about a given pest situation as we might like.
example, Nebraska entomologists are examining western But the better our thresholds and the better our
bean cutworm ecology and injury to corn. understanding of the crop, the closer we will get to making
the best decisions.
If you only have extension recommendations
published prior to 2007 available, you will have to use
your experience when considering if to lower the

Adapted from the Proceedings of the University of

Nebraska-Lincoln Crop Production Clinics 2009, pp. 93-
96.