Leafhopper: 5 tips for controlling and managing this pest

The Cigarrinha (Dalbulus maidis) has become an important corn pest. Measuring around 0,5 cm and with a slightly grayish appearance, it is an insect vector of pathogens and transmits microorganisms during sap sucking. Its most significant damage is caused indirectly, when the pest, during the feeding process, plays the role of transmitter of pathogens that cause diseases called pale stunting (caused by spiroplasma) and red stunting of corn, in addition to the rayed stunt virus. thin.

Stunting is a corn disease caused by infection of the plant by microorganisms called mollicutes, similar to bacteria.

Mollicutes invade and multiply in the phloem tissues of the corn plant and are transmitted, by leafhoppers, from diseased plants to healthy plants.

In terms of damage, the leafhopper can cause: reduction in plant height and ear size and failed ears, unproductive ears, flat and deformed grains.

There are some preventive measures to manage the pest, such as:

- Avoid sowing next to diseased crops, as the infective leafhoppers act very quickly.

- Eliminate volunteer corn plants (tigueiras), which preserve mollicutes and leafhoppers, reducing the inoculum for new crops. 

- Synchronize the sowing time, avoiding the concentration of infectious leafhoppers.

- Diversify cultivars: if a resistant cultivar is planted for a long time, the causal agent can adapt and develop resistance. 

- Treat the seeds with insecticides in their initial stage to control the leafhopper and spray the area to reduce the population.