Action Thresholds of Empoasca terminalis (Homoptera: Cicadellidae) on Soybean in South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Empoasca terminalis Dist. (Homoptera: Cicadellidae) is a new but increasingly important pest of soybean in South Sulawesi province of\udIndonesia. Farmers are dependent mostly upon insecticide use for the control of the leafhopper. Insecticide is applied on a schedule\udbasis, usually once in 2-3 days and not on the basis of action thresholds. Action threshold is used to prevent over-treatment and\udunder-treatment of the intended crops. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to determine the action thresholds of E. terminalis\udon two varieties with different levels of resistance to the insect: Mahameru (susceptible) and Gepak Kuning (resistant). Besides that, it was\udalso sought to know the number of insecticide applications required for each action threshold on each variety. Results showed that the\udaction thresholds of E. terminalis were 10 and 5 nymphs per 16 leaves for resistant and susceptible cultivars, respectively. On Mahameru\udand Gepak Kuning the numbers of insecticide applications necessary to maintain the action thresholds were 5-7 and 1-2 times during\udthe season, respectively. Therefore, total number of insecticide applications based on the action thresholds can be reduced substantially\udin comparison with the farmers practice which is one application for every 2-3 days or up to 16 applications during the season