Study of insecticide application techniques to control Dalbulus maidis and the damage caused by this insect in maize cultivation

• Grant number: 24/02035-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: December 01, 2024
• End date: November 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Plant Health
• Principal Investigator: Evandro Pereira Prado
• Grantee: Evandro Pereira Prado
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Tecnológicas. Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Dracena. Dracena , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Fernando Shintate Galindo ; Paulo Humberto Pagliari

Abstract

The corn leafhopper Dalbulus maidis (DeLong & Wolcott) is one of the most important maize (Zea mays L.) pests, transmitting several diseases and reducing the yield crop maize potential. This study aims to verify how the spray nozzle/droplet class and the spray rate affect the spray deposits, spray coverage, effectiveness control of the corn leafhopper, the corn stunt disease complex, and the yield parameters of the maize crop. The field study will be conducted in a randomized block design in a factorial scheme (3 × 2) + 1, with 3 spray nozzles/droplet class (medium, coarse, and extremely coarse) and 2 spray rates (65 and 192 L ha-1) plus 1 control treatment with 4 repetitions. The Brilliant Blue dye will quantify spray deposition and Water Sensitive Paper (WSP) spray coverage. The study will be carried out in the 1st crop season (November) and repeated in the 2nd (February) in the 2024/25 and 2025/26 crop seasons. The parameters evaluated will be: spray deposits on maize plants, spray coverage on WSP leafhopper control, disease incidence, and yield. The study of spray deposition and spray coverage at the laboratory will be carried out in a completely randomized design in a 3 × 2 factorial scheme (same as previously described except the control) with 10 replications. The droplet class will be analyzed using a laser diffraction system. Deposition and coverage data (field and laboratory), leafhopper control, disease incidence, and yield will be subjected to analysis of variance and, when significant, the means will be compared using the Tukey test (p< 0.05). The uniformity of spray deposits will be measured by the coefficient of variation. The means of the droplet class for each treatment will be compared using the confidence interval at the 95% probability level. All experiments will be carried out in duplicate for greater data reliability. (AU)