LUIS CARLOS PINHEIRO LINS
STUDIES FOR MANAGING THE WILDERNESS Heliothis virescens (Fabricius, 1777) (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE) ON COTTON (Gossypium hirsutum L.) AND SOYA [Glycine max (L.) Merril]
Abstract:
Recently, cotton apple caterpillar (Heliothis virescens) has been highlighting in several crops in the Brazilian Cerrado. In order to study the adaptation of H. virescens in soybean crops, three experiments were carried out to determine the insect biology and the potential damage in these species. In the first one, we evaluated the pest biology in different vegetative and reproductive structures of soybean and cotton. In conclusion, soybean and cotton contain adequate composition for H. virescens to develop until the pupae phase, with the capacity to consume 96.1 and 159.2 cm2 of cotton and soybean leaves respectively. In the second experiment, damage at different phenological stages of both crops under greenhouse conditions was evaluated. The conclusion was that three caterpillars were not able to cause significant damage to soybean. Although a caterpillar can damage about 21.5 pods. In cotton, two caterpillars were able to cause significant crop damage, with one caterpillar consuming about 23.7 structures (flower buds and apples). In the third experiment, assessing field damage, it was concluded that the damage level was 6.3% and the action level was 5.7% of infested plants. In soybean the damage levels were between 4 and 7 caterpillars m-2, and the level of 8 caterpillars m-2 in the reproductive caused significant damage to soybean production.
