Aplicación de aceite vegetal en el control de los gusanos de la mazorca en cultivo de maíz (Zea mays)

Abstract

Corn (Zea mays) is a crop of fundamental importance in the country for the feeding of its population thanks to its high content of nutritional properties and its great adaptability to the different regions of Ecuador, so in order to maintain its productivity, several researches must be carried out to discover new strategies that allow us to improve its quality and yield. In the last 20 years this crop has maintained its production. However, at present the corn crop has been greatly affected by earworms Helicoverpa zea and Euxesta eluta on a large scale, causing significant production and economic losses to farmers. Therefore, in the present research, a natural method of application with vegetable oil will be used to control these worms. For this purpose, two forms of application were used, one with a dropper and the other using cotton swabs. Three times of application of vegetable oil were also used, at the beginning, 8 and 16 days after female flowering, and in the control, chemical control was carried out using an insecticide (Bacan), different variables were analyzed (total number of ears, total weight of ears, number of healthy ears, weight of healthy ears, number of damaged ears, weight of damaged ears, percentage of ear damage and yield). No significant differences between treatments were observed in the number and total weight of ears. Regarding the number of healthy ears, a significant effect was observed in the sources of variation treatments, times and the interaction forms*times, giving better results with treatment F1A3 (application of vegetable oil with a dropper at the beginning, 8 and 16 days after female flowering). For the weight of healthy ears, there were significant differences in the application times, with the application at the beginning, 8 and 16 days after female flowering (A3) being the most appropriate. Significant differences in the number of damaged ears were observed with treatment F1A3. As for the weight of damaged ears, there were significant differences in the application times (A3). In the percentage of ear damage, 15% damage was observed with treatment F1A3, which reported the lowest percentage of damage of all treatments, including the control. In terms of yield, there were no significant differences between treatments, but there were numerical differences, resulting in 5433 kg/ha with treatment F1A3.