Optimizing Corn Crop Protection: The First Sampling Plan for Controlling Dalbulus maidis (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae)

• Published in: Plants (Basel) Vol. 13; no. 13; p. 1779
• Main Authors: Pinto, Cleovan Barbosa, Carmo, Daiane das Graças do, Santos, Juliana Lopes Dos, Pimentel, Emílio de Souza, Mota, Aline da Silva, da Silva, Ricardo Siqueira, Picanço, Marcelo Coutinho, Sarmento, Renato Almeida
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 27.06.2024
• Subjects: Agricultural practices; Binomial distribution; Cereal crops; Cicadellidae; Corn; corn leafhopper; Costs; Crop planting; Crops; Dalbulus maidis; Decision making; Density; Ecosystems; Frequency distribution; Hemiptera; Insecticides; Insects; Integrated pest management; negative binomial; Pathogens; Pest control; Pesticides; Pests; Plant protection; Sampling; sampling cost; sampling time; Vegetables; Zea mays; corn leafhopper; Zea mays; negative binomial; sampling time; sampling cost
• ISSN: 2223-7747; 2223-7747
• DOI: 10.3390/plants13131779

Corn ( ) is the most widely planted crop in the world. (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) is currently a primary corn pest. The starting point for the development of pest control decision-making systems is the determination of a conventional sampling plan. Therefore, this study aimed to determine a practical conventional sampling plan for in corn crops. Insect density was evaluated in 28 commercial fields. Subsequently, densities were sampled from fields ranging from 1 to 100 ha. Insect density conformed to a negative binomial distribution in 89.29% of the fields. The insect densities determined using the sampling plan had a low error rate (up to 15%). Sampling time and costs ranged from 2.06 to 39.45 min/ha and 0.09 to 1.81 USD/ha for fields of 1-100 ha, respectively. These results provide the first precise and representative conventional sampling plan for scouting adults grown in corn fields. Therefore, the conventional sampling plan for determined in this study is practical and can be incorporated into integrated pest management programs for corn crops owing to its representativeness, precision, speed, and low cost.