Fighting off the sucking pests of soybean: managing stink bugs and whiteflies

Abstract

Stink bugs and whiteflies are major concerns for pest management in Brazilian soybean fields, causing severe economic losses to soybean growers and leading to excessive insecticide applications per crop cycle. Despite biological differences, these two sap-sucking pests often co-occur in soybean fields and can be successfully managed with the same insecticide spray, reducing operational costs to the growers. The aim of this work was to evaluate the efficacy of eleven insecticides in the control of stink bugs and whiteflies. Two insecticide sprays were made with an interval of 14 days between them. The results from ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc test (P≤0.05) revealed significant differences among treatments. Acetamiprid + bifenthrin (75 + 75 g a.i. ha-1) was the most efficient treatment for the control of stink bugs, reaching 97.8% of insect mortality. Cyantraniliprole + bifenthrin (50 + 50 g a.i. ha-1) was the most efficient treatment for the control of whiteflies, reaching 78.8% of insect mortality. This treatment also presented the highest combined control of stink bugs and whiteflies, reaching 83.5% of insect mortality