EVALUATION OF AERIAL INSECTICIDAL CONTROL OF THE MEXICAN RICE BORER IN SUGARCANE,2009

Six different insecticide treatments, in addition to an untreated check, were assessed for season-long control of the sugarcane borer (SCB) in a randomized complete block design RCBD with five replications in a field of variety HoCP 96-540 plantcane near Burns Point, La. Insecticide treatments were applied to 3-row plots (24 ft) on July 7 and August 6, 2009. Treatments were mixed in 2 gallons of water and applied using a Solo back pack sprayer delivering 40 gpa at 20 psi. Borer injury to sugarcane was assessed by counting the total number of internodes (12 stalks/plot), number of bored internodes and moth emergence holes in each stalk at the time of harvest (October 13). The proportion of bored internodes and emergence holes were analyzed using a generalized linear mixed model (Proc Glimmix, SAS Institute) with a binomial distribution for percentage of bored internodes and a Poisson distribution for number of exit holes per plot. The means were separated with Tukey’s HSD ( = 0.05).