Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), corn earworm, is a damaging insect pest of many crops, including soybeans. An economic threshold for soybeans during the pod-filling stages exists to prevent economic damage to seeds. However, the impact of florivory (flower feeding) by H. zea larvae on seed yield is poorly understood and there is no economic threshold for flowering-stage soybeans. Four small plot experiments were conducted in North Carolina during 2011 and 2012 to assess the impact of H. zea feeding during the flowering stages of determinate soybeans on various yield components. Helicoverpa zea densities were manipulated with insecticides and various planting dates of soybeans and monitored weekly. Helicoverpa zea naturally infested the plots after flowering began and were allowed to feed until R3; they were eliminated from all plots from R3 to maturity. In some sites, H. zea densities exceeded the podding economic threshold during the flowering stages, but yield did not differ among treatments. During 2012, florivory from H. zea was measured directly by counting injured flowers. There was a negative yield relationship between both injured flower number and cumulative flower number. Moreover, H. zea densities were related to both a decrease in cumulative flowers and an increase in injured flowers, even though a direct linkage between H. zea density and yield loss was not observed. Without knowing the preferred tissue types and performance of early-instar larvae on soybeans, it is possible that H. zea density may not be the best measurement for developing an economic threshold in flowering soybeans.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jee/tow312 | DOI Listing |
BMC Genomics
December 2024
Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.
Strong and shifting selective pressures of the Anthropocene are rapidly shaping phenomes and genomes of organisms worldwide. Crops expressing pesticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) represent one major selective force on insect genomes. Here we characterize a rapid response to selection by Bt crops in a major crop pest, Helicoverpa zea.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Econ Entomol
December 2024
Department of Entomology, The Vernon James Center, North Carolina State University, Plymouth, NC, USA.
We assessed the utility of a Bayesian analysis of dose-mortality curves using probit analysis. A Bayesian equivalent of a conventional single population probit analysis using Abbott's correction demonstrated the ability of the Bayesian model to recover parameters from generative data. We then developed a model that removed Abbott's correction and estimated natural survivorship as part of the overall model fitting process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Invertebr Pathol
February 2025
Department of Entomology, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
Cry2Ab2 is a Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) protein that has been pyramided with Cry1A.105 in transgenic maize and Cry1Ac in cotton to control some major lepidopteran pests including the corn earworm/bollworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie). However, the widespread occurrence of resistance of this pest to the pyramided Cry1A/Cry2A crops in the southern region of the United State has become a threat to the sustainability of the technology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
November 2024
Department of Entomology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721.
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