Selected Abiotic and Biotic Environmental Stress Factors Affecting Two Economically Important Sugarcane Stalk Boring Pests in the United States

• Main Author: Allan T. Showler
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2016-02-01
• Series: Agronomy
• Subjects: Saccharum; weeds; Diatraea saccharalis; Eoreuma loftini; Mexican rice borer; sugarcane borer; soil; vegetational diversification; drought; water deficit; corn; maize; resistance; cultivars; cultural practices; irrigation; nitrogen
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/6/1/10

Sugarcane, Saccharum spp., in the United States is attacked by a number of different arthropod pests. The most serious among those pests are two stalk boring moths in the Family Crambidae: the sugarcane borer, Diatraea saccharalis (F.), and the Mexican rice borer, Eoreuma loftini (Dyar). The two species are affected by abiotic and biotic environmental stress factors. Water deficit and excessive soil nitrogen alter physical and physiochemical aspects of the sugarcane plant that make the crop increasingly vulnerable to E. loftini. Weed growth can be competitive with sugarcane but it also supports enhanced abundances and diversity of natural enemies that can suppress infestations of D. saccharalis. In an instance where the stalk borer is considered a stress factor, proximity of vulnerable crops to sugarcane can influence levels of E. loftini infestation of sugarcane. The adverse effects of each stress factor, in terms of stalk borer attack, can be reduced by adopting appropriate cultural practices, such as adequate irrigation, judicious use of nitrogen fertilizer, using noncompetitive weed growth, and not planting vulnerable crops near sugarcane fields. Understanding the relationships between stress factors and crop pests can provide valuable insights for plant breeders and tools for incorporation into integrated pest management strategies.