Cereal leaf beetle in 33.3% of fields in southern Alberta. Locally, adults spread to the exterior of fields during their overwinter. Larvae tend to stay on the outside of crop fields, but are also found in the center. Local populations are never homogenously distributed, hotspots and empty places occur in each field. "O. melanopus" consumes nearly all cereal crops, but has a strong affinity for oats, barley, and rye, and its favorite host is wheat. Alternatives are corn, sorghum, and sudangrass for adults, and wild oats, quackgrass, timothy, canary grass, reed canary grass, annual and perennial ryegrass, foxtail, orchard grass, wild rye, smooth
Crop weed Crop weed Crop weeds are weeds that grow amongst crops. Examples of crop weeds include chickweed, barnyard grass, dandelion, striga and fallopia japonica. Despite the potential for some crop weeds to be used as a food source, many can also prove harmful to crops, both directly and indirectly. Crop weeds can inhibit the growth of crops, contaminate harvested crops and often spread rapidly. They can also host crop pests such as aphids, fungal rots and viruses. Cost increases and yield losses occur as a result. Striga, one of the main cereal crop weeds in Sub-Saharan Africa, commonly causes yield losses