AVALIAÇÃO DO CONTROLE CULTURAL COMO FORMA DE REDUZIR INSETOS TRANSMISSORES DE FITOVÍRUS

Abstract

Mulching as a ground cover can be made by agricultural plastics. And this can lead to confusion in the location of herbivorous insects such as thrips. This insect is considered a key pest and difficult to control in garlic production areas in Brazil. The objective was to evaluate the impact of black/silver plastic mulching (Mulch More®) on the incidence of Thrips tabaci in prime garlic plants grown in the Cerrado biome. The project was carried out, under field conditions, in two harvests (2018-2019). The garlic cultivar Ito was exploited with yellow adhesive traps for insect sampling. In both crops evaluated, the population of thrips was smaller with the use of plastic mulching compared to those plots without. From the 75th day after germination (DAG) the thrips population in the plots without mulching increased until the end of the experimental period (at 120 DAG). This study highlights that this technology may become an important component in Integrated Pest Management in noble garlic crops in the Brazilian Cerrado.