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Prediction of European corn borer (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) egg and neonate larval survival and microclimate in field corn as affected by irrigation in west central Nebraska
Abstract
The effect of three irrigation treatments on the microclimatic conditions in field corn, Zea mays L. and European corn borer (ECB), Ostrinia nubilalis (Hubner) eggs and neonate larvae were investigated from 1989 to 1991. ECB larval survival and egg mortality factors but not egg hatch were affected by the irrigation treatments. Predation and dislodgement were the most important egg mortality factors. Desiccation increased on non-irrigated, reproductive stage plants. Irrigation had little effect on the distribution of larvae on the plants. Larval survival was 7.5% on whorl stage plants in the non-irrigated location in 1990 and 13.1% on reproductive stage plants in the limited irrigation location in 1991. Larval survival declined in other year and irrigation treatment combinations to a range of 0% to 4% on whorl stage plants and 0% to 3.3% on reproductive stage plants. Field microclimatic conditions were hotter and dryer in non-irrigated plots, particularly on reproductive stage plants. The environmental conditions were summarized with two to five principal components. Through logistic regression analysis, the observed ECB larval survival was explained with two to three of the principal components. Microclimatic conditions were similar between field observations, data from a local and the average of four distant automated weather stations. A model based on the response of plant leaves to microclimatic conditions, when modified, gave leaf surface temperature predictions from automated weather station data that were similar to field temperatures. The principal components of the predicted environmental conditions were similar to those derived from the field conditions. Logistic regression analysis indicated that ECB larval survival was related to the same principal components predicted from the automated weather stations as those derived from environmental conditions observed in the field. These results indicate that neonate ECB larval survival was related to microclimatic conditions that were either observed in the field or predicted from distant automated weather stations.
Subject Area
Entomology|Ecology
Recommended Citation
Seymour, Ronald Clement, "Prediction of European corn borer (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) egg and neonate larval survival and microclimate in field corn as affected by irrigation in west central Nebraska" (1996). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9715984.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9715984