Selected abiotic and biotic environmental stress factors affecting two commercially important sugarcane stalk boring pests in the United States

Authors: Showler, Allan

Submitted to: Agronomy Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/15/2016
Publication Date: 2/23/2016
Citation: Showler, A. 2016. Selected abiotic and biotic environmental stress factors affecting two commercially important sugarcane stalk boring pests in the United States. Agronomy Journal. 6:1-18. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy6010010.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy6010010

Interpretive Summary: The most serious pests of sugarcane in the United States are two stalk boring moths: the sugarcane borer and the Mexican rice borer. The two species are influenced by a variety of environmental stress factors. Water deficit and excessive soil nitrogen change physical and chemical aspects of sugarcane plants such that the crop becomes more susceptible to the Mexican rice borer. Weed growth in sugarcane fields support high numbers of, and many kinds of natural enemies that can suppress sugarcane borer infestations. Where the stalk borers are considered as stress factors, proximity of vulnerable crops to sugarcane can influence Mexican rice borer infestations. The negative effects of each stress in terms of stalk borer attack can be reduced by using appropriate cultural practices, such as adequate irrigation, careful use of nitrogen fertilizer, manipulating noncompetitive weed growth, and by not planting vulnerable crops near sugarcane fields.

Technical Abstract: 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 as 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 offer valuable insights for plant breeders and tools for incorporation into integrated pest management strategies.