Threecornered alfalfa hopper, Spissistilus festinus (Say), is a pest of soybean during vegetative and reproductive stages. The primary damage from this pest is girdling of the main stem during vegetative stages and girdling of the petioles during reproductive stages. Previous research determined that yield losses are greater during reproductive stages than vegetative stages. I hypothesized that some reproductive stages are more vulnerable to damage than other stages. I used field cages infested with different pest densities at five reproductive stages of group IV soybean. A greenhouse study compared the injury and damage caused by the adults and nymphs. The field study showed that the threecornered alfalfa hopper did not significantly impact yields at the growth stages studied. Adults preferred to feed on leaf petioles while nymphs fed mostly on stems. Significant yield reduction was noticed at growth stage R4 in the greenhouse due to adult and nymphs compared to control.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MSSTATE/oai:scholarsjunction.msstate.edu:td-3737 |
| Date | 01 May 2010 |
| Creators | Pulakkatu-thodi, Ishakh |
| Publisher | Scholars Junction |
| Source Sets | Mississippi State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
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