Application of Elcar™ [Heliothis nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV)] to soybean at 9 × 1010 and 36 × 1010 polyhedral inclusion bodies (PIB) per ha resulted in only low levels of mortality (7% to 26.0%) from NPV in Heliothis spp. larvae collected up to 14 days after treatment. Bioassay of NPV in predators collected from 36 × 1010 PIB/ha-treated plots revealed that 16.9% and 14.8% were contaminated with virus 7 and 14 days, respectively, after application. The predominant predators collected were spiders (34.3%) and nabid species (29.2%) of which 11.0% and 20.2%, respectively, tested positive for NPV. Only a few predators collected from outside treated plots 14 days after treatment contained NPV. These results suggest that most predators which preyed on virus infected larvae did not move from the treated plots and did not have an important role in NPV dispersal within the treated plots.
Contributor Notes
2Published with the approval of the Director, Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.
3Use of a trade name does not imply endorsement or guarantee of the product or the exclusion of other products of similar nature.