Control of maize pests with imidacloprid seed dressing treatment in Catalonia (NE Iberian Peninsula) under traditional crop conditions

The effects of treating maize seed with imidacloprid to prevent damage by soil pests, aphids, leafhoppers and the first generation of corn borers was evaluated in the field by comparing treated with untreated commercial plots in a 5-year study in Catalonia (NE Iberian Peninsula). The treatment reduced the incidence of cutworms (Agrotis segetum), wireworms (Agriotes lineatus), the first generation of the corn borer Sesamia nonagrioides and leafhoppers (Zyginidia scutellaris). However, treated plots were attacked significantly more by Ostrinia nubilalis. The treatment was effective in reducing aphid densities from maize emergence to mid June. What happened later depended on the relative abundance of aphid species. Rhopalosiphum padi seems to be more sensitive than Metopolophium dirhodum whose population can be enhanced after flowering in plots treated with imidacloprid. The treatment did not avoid aphid alate colonisation and MDMV infection was not prevented. The greater damage on untreated plants caused by wireworms, cutworms and the first generation of S. nonagrioides, and the densities achieved by aphids, was insufficient to produce yield differences between treatments, and only leafhopper damage led to economic damage. Imidacloprid favours the attack of the European corn borer, thus masking the potential increase in yield. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.