Management of Euxesta spp. in sweet corn with McPhail traps.

Pests attacking the ear of sweet corn, such as Helicoverpa and Euxesta species,causeeconomiclosses fortheproducer and theprocessingindustry. Feeding on the style-stigmata preventing fertilization and on the developing grain and the association with pathogens are the main causes of product depreciation. The traditional control such as spraying with chemicals is not effective, even with several applications directed to the corn ear. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn also does not reach the fly. McPhail traps that have been used to monitor the pest can be a control strategy. This work evaluated the efficiency of food attractants placed inside McPhail traps to remove adult insects, in order to reduce ear damage. Twelve McPhail-type traps were installed in a randomized complete block designcontainingBioAnastrepha®aloneorcombinedwithdifferentdoses of insecticide. Every 10 days, all the captured insects were counted and separated by species and sex. Only Euxesta eluta and Euxesta mazorca were found. The occurrence of insects was greater in the period between silk emergence and grain filling. The number of females was higher, probably due to the need to feed before oviposition.Then umber of E.mazorca females caught in the treatment containing only Bio Anastrepha® was higher compared with that of others. The mean ear damage was very low, and there was no interaction between the production parameters and the distance between the trap and the harvested plant. In short, the useofMcPhailtrapcontainingfoodattractantsmaybeaviablealternative to control corn silk flies.

Publicado online em 8 dez. 2019.