Intercropping maize with brachiaria can be a double-edged sword strategy.

BACKGROUND: Intercropping is commonly implemented as a way of promoting sustainable agriculture. Some of the benefits of intercropping include improving resource-use efficiency and soil quality as well as promoting pest control. As for pest control, intercropping can often engender pest repellency/confusion and promote natural biological control. Nevertheless, intercropping is not always a win-win strategy for pest management, with chances of sometimes either favoring or hampering pests and their natural enemies. Brazilian farmers commonly row-intercrop maize with brachiaria with the intent of forming a grass pasture for the feeding of livestock after maize harvest. However, very little is known about whether this intercropping can influence key pests and natural enemies in the maize agroecosystem. The overall aim of this study was to investigate how multiple groups of maize pests and natural enemies respond in terms of temporal abundance to this intercropping. RESULTS: Defoliation caused by caterpillars was higher in the intercropping treatment. Intercropping appeared to promote Dalbulus maidis while hampering aphids and Diabrotica speciosa. In general, the abundance of natural enemies was favored by intercropping. There was a reduction in maize productivity (i.e. fresh weight) in the intercropping treatment. Most results were season dependent. CONCLUSION: We believe that by considering together the pros and cons of intercropping maize and brachiaria in terms of pest management and soil conservation/fertility, the benefits of implementing this intercropping shall still outweigh its potential challenges. Nevertheless, the results and ensuing recommendations should be considered under the context of time and arthropod species. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Phosphine-induced walking response of the lesser grain borer (Rhyzopertha dominica).

BACKGROUND: In spite of the intensive worldwide use of phosphine against stored-product insects, its potential sublethal effects on targeted insect species is seldom recognised and may compromise the efficacy of this fumigant, particularly against phosphine-resistant insects. Therefore, the behavioural response of three populations of the lesser grain borer Rhyzopertha dominica (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae) to sublethal phosphine exposure was assessed. RESULTS: Concentration-mortality bioassays with phosphine confirmed the resistance status of the insect populations studied, with levels of phosphine resistance of 40.8-fold and 85.7-fold compared with the susceptible population. Regarding walking behaviour, determined using a digital video-tracking system, the phosphine-resistant populations were less active than the susceptible population. In addition, sublethal phosphine exposure decreased the walking activity of all three populations. CONCLUSION: Phosphine exposure decreased walking activity. Such reduced walking activity is likely to lower the respiration rate, thereby minimising phosphine uptake. As higher phosphine resistance was also associated with reduced walking activity, phosphine-resistant populations may resist phosphine fumigation even more efficiently on account of this behavioural trait, further aiding their physiological resistance, and should be a matter of concern.

Phosphine resistance, respiration rate and fitness consequences in stored-product insects.

Resistance to fumigants has been frequently reported in insect pests of stored products and is one of the obstacles in controlling these pests. The authors studied phosphine resistance and its physiological basis in adult insects of 12 populations of Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Tenebrionidae), ten populations of Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) (Bostrichidae) and eight populations of Oryzaephilus surinamensis L. (Silvanidae) from Brazil, and the possible existence of fitness costs associated with phosphine resistance in the absence of this fumigant. The bioassays for the detection of phosphine resistance followed the FAO standard method. The production of carbon dioxide and the instantaneous rate of population increase (r(i)) of each population of each species were correlated with their resistance ratios at the LC(50). The resistance ratio at LC(50) in T. castaneum ranged from 1.0- to 186.2-fold, in R. dominica from 2.0- to 71.0-fold and in O. surinamensis from 1.9- to 32.2-fold. Ten populations of T. castaneum, nine populations of R. dominica and seven populations of O. surinamensis were resistant to phosphine. In all three species there was significant association (P < 0.05) between respiration rate and phosphine resistance. The populations with lower carbon dioxide production showed a higher resistance ratio, suggesting that the lower respiration rate is the physiological basis of phosphine resistance by reducing the fumigant uptake in the resistant insects. Conversely, populations with higher r(i) showed lower resistance ratios, which could indicate a lower rate of reproduction of the resistant populations compared with susceptible populations. Thus, management strategies based on the interruption of phosphine fumigation may result in reestablishment of susceptibility, and shows good potential for more effective management of phosphine-resistant populations.