Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-skm99 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T14:49:07.463Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Abundance, dispersion and parasitism of the stem borer Busseola fusca (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in maize in the humid forest zone of southern Cameroon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

A. Chabi-Olaye ,
C. Nolte ,
F. Schulthess  and
C. Borgemeister
A. Chabi-Olaye
Affiliation:
Institute of Plant Diseases and Plant Protection, Herrenhäuser Str. 2, 30419, Hannover, Germany International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Humid Forest Ecoregional Centre, Messa, 2008 Yaoundé, Cameroon
C. Nolte
Affiliation:
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Humid Forest Ecoregional Centre, Messa, 2008 Yaoundé, Cameroon
F. Schulthess
Affiliation:
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, PO Box 30772-00100, Nairobi, Kenya
C. Borgemeister*
Affiliation:
Institute of Plant Diseases and Plant Protection, Herrenhäuser Str. 2, 30419, Hannover, Germany
*
*Fax: +49-511-7623015 E-mail: borgemeister@ipp.uni-hannover.de
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study was conducted in the humid forest zone of Cameroon, in 2002 and 2003. The main objective was to investigate the effects of intercropping on infestation levels and parasitism of the noctuid maize stem borer Busseola fusca Fuller. Two trials were planted per year, one during the long and one during the short rainy season. Maize monocrops were compared with maize/legume or maize/cassava intercrops in two spatial arrangements: maize on alternate hills or in alternate rows. Spatial analyses showed that the stemborer egg batches were regularly dispersed in the maize monocrop and aggregated in the intercrops, as indicated by b, the index of dispersion of Taylor's power law. Depending on the crop association and planting pattern, intercrops reduced the percentage of plants with stem borer eggs by 47.4–58.4% and egg densities by 41.2–54.5% compared to monocropped maize. Consequently, larval densities were 44.4–61.5% lower in intercrops compared to monocrops. Intercropping maize with non-host plants did not affect larval parasitism. Up to two-fold higher levels of egg parasitism by scelionid Telenomus spp. were recorded in inter- compared to monocrops during the short rainy seasons of 2002 and 2003. No differences were found among the mixed cropping treatments and parasitism was lower during the long compared to the short rainy seasons. It was proposed that differences in levels of parasitism were due to density dependence effects rather than the effect of the presence of non-host plants in the system.

Type
Review Article
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 95 , Issue 2 , April 2005 , pp. 169 - 177
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altieri, M.A. (1994) Biodiversity and pest management in agroecosystems 185New York: Food Products Press.Google Scholar
Altieri, M.A. & Letourneau, D.K. (1982) Vegetation management and biological control in agroecosystems. Crop Protection 1, 405–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Altieri, M.A., Francis, C.A. & Van Schoonhoven, A., Doll, J.D. (1978) A review of insect prevalence in maize (Zea mays L.) and bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) polycultural systems. Field Crop Research 1, 33–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andow, D.A. (1991) Vegetational diversity and arthropod population response. Annual Review of Entomology 36, 561–586.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baliddawa, C.W. (1985) Plant species diversity and crop pest control: an analytical review. Insect Science and Its Application 6, 479–487.Google Scholar
Bin, F. & Vinson, S.B. (1991) Efficacy assessment in egg parasitoids (Hymenoptera): proposal for a unified terminology. Trichogramma and other egg parasitoids. San Antonio (Texas, USA), September 23–27. (Ed.) INRA, Paris 1991 (Les Colloques no. 56).Google Scholar
Cardwell, K., Schulthess, F., Ndemah, R. & Ngoko, Z. (1997) A systems approach to assess crop health and maize yield losses due to pests and diseases in Cameroon. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 65, 33–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chabi-Olaye, A., Nolte, C. & Schulthess, F. & Borgemeister, C. (2004) Effects of grain legumes and cover crops on maize yield and plant damage by Busseola fusca (Fuller) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in the humid forest of southern Cameroon. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cromartie, W.J. (1981) The environmental control of insects using crop diversity. pp. 223–250 in Pimentel, D., (Ed.) CRC Handbook of pest management in agriculture. Vol. 1 CRC Handbook series in Agriculture. Boca Raton, Florida, CRC Press.Google Scholar
Ebenebe, A.A.van den Berg Linde, J., van der, T.C. & de, K. (2000) Seasonal flight activity of the maize stalk borer, Busseola fusca (Fuller) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), in Lesotho. African Entomology 8, 63–68.Google Scholar
Hauser, S. & Nolte, C. (2002) Biomass production and N fixation of five Mucuna pruriens varieties and their effect on maize yields in the forest zone of Cameroon. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science 165, 101–109.3.0.CO;2-F>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hauser, S., Henrot, J. & Hauser, A. (2002) Maize yields in mulched and burned Mucuna pruriens var. utilis and Pueraria phaseoloides relay fallow systems in southern Cameroon. Biological Agriculture and Horticulture 20, 243–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kareiva, P. (1983) Influence of vegetation texture on herbivore populations: resource concentration and herbivore movement. pp. 259–289in Denno, R.F., Mcclaire, M.S., (Eds) Variable plants and herbivores in natural and managed ecosystems. New York, Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaufmann, T. (1983) Behavioural biology, feeding habits and ecology of three species of maize stemborers: Eldana saccharina (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), Sesamia calamistis and Busseola fusca (Noctuidae) in Ibadan, Nigeria, West Africa. Journal of the Georgia Entomological Society 18, 259–272.Google Scholar
Khan, Z.R., Chiliswa, P., Ampong-Nyarko, K., Smart, L.A., Polaszek, A., Wandera, J. & Mulaa, M.A. (1997) Utilization of wild gramineous plants for management of cereal stemborers in Africa. Insect Science and its Application 17, 143–150.Google Scholar
Litsinger, J.A. & Moody, K. (1976) Integrated pest management in multiple cropping systems. pp. 293–317 in Papendick, R.I., Sanchez, P.A., & Triplett, G.B., (Eds) Multiple cropping. Madison, Wisconsin, American Society and Agronomy.Google Scholar
Mutsaers, H.J.W., Ezumah, H.C. & Osiru, D.S.O. (1993) Cassava-based intercropping: a review. Field Crops Research 34, 431–457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ndemah, R. (1999) Towards an integrated crop management strategy for the African stalk borer, Busseola fusca (Fuller) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in maize systems in Cameroon. viii+136 pp. PhD thesis, University of Hannover, Germany (http://www.gartenbau.uni-hannover.de/ipp/entomol/ndemah/ndemah.html).Google Scholar
Ndemah, R. & Schulthess, F. (2002) Yield of maize in relation to natural field infestations and damage by lepidopterous borers in the forest and forest/savannah transition zones of Cameroon. Insect Science and its Application 22, 183–193.Google Scholar
Ndemah, R., Schulthess, F., Korie, S., Borgemeister, C. & Cardwell, K.F. (2001a) Distribution, relative importance and effect of lepidopterous borers on maize yields in the forest zone and mid-altitude of Cameroon. Journal of Economic Entomology 94, 1434–1444.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ndemah, R., Schulthess, F., Poehling, H.-M. & Borgemeister, C. (2001b) Spatial dynamics of lepidopterous pests on Zea mays (Linnaeus) and Pennisetum purpureum (Moench) in the forest zone of Cameroon and their implications for sampling schemes. Journal of Applied Entomology 125, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ndemah, R., Schulthess, F., Poehling, H.-M., Borgemeister, C. & Goergen, G. (2001c) Natural enemies of lepidopterous borers on maize and elephant grass in the forest zone of Cameroon. Bulletin of Entomological Research 91, 205–212.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ndemah, R., Schulthess, F., Korie, S., Borgemeister, C., Poehling, H.-M. & Cardwell, K.F. (2003) Factors affecting infestations of the stalk borer Busseola fusca (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on maize in the forest zone of Cameroon with special reference to scelionid egg parasitoids. Environmental Entomology 32, 51–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okigbo, B.N. & Greenland, G.J. (1976) Integrated pest management in multiple cropping systems. pp. 63–101in Papendick, R.I., Sanchez, P.A., & Triplett, G.B., (Eds) Multiple cropping. Madison, Wisconsin, American Society of Agronomy.Google Scholar
Polaszek, A., Ubeku, J.A. & Bosque-Pérez, N.A. (1993) Taxonomy of Telenomus busseolae -species-complex (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) egg parasitoids of cereal stem borers (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae, Pyralidae). Bulletin of Entomological Research 83, 221–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Risch, S.J., Andow, D. & Altieri, M.A. (1983) Agroecosystem diversity and pest control: data, tentative conclusions, and new research directions. Environmental Entomology 12, 625–629.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Root, R.B. (1973) Organisation of a plant-arthropod association in simple and diverse habitats: the fauna of collards (Brassica oleracea). Ecological Monographs 43, 95–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, E.P. (1989) Enemies hypothesis: a review of the effect of vegetational diversity on predatory insects and parasitoids. Environmental Entomology 18, 590–599.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SAS Institute (1997) SAS/STAT Software: changes and enhancements, through release 6.12. SAS Institute, North Carolina.Google Scholar
Schulthess, F., Bosque-Pérez, N.A., Chabi-Olaye, A., Gounou, S., Ndemah, R. & Goergen, G. (1997) Exchanging natural enemies species of lepidopterous cereal stemborers between African regions. Insect Science and its Application 17, 97–108.Google Scholar
Schulthess, F., Chabi-Olaye, A. & Goergen, G. (2001) Seasonal fluctuations of noctuid stemborer egg parasitism in southern Benin with special reference to Sesamia calamistis Hampson (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and Telenomus spp. (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) on maize. Biocontrol, Science and Technology 11, 745–757.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schulthess, F., Chabi-Olaye, A. & Gounou, S. (2004) Multi-trophic level interactions in a cassava–maize mixed cropping system in the humid tropics of West Africa. Bulletin of Entomological Research 94, 261–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sétamou, M. & Schulthess, F. (1995) The influence of egg parasitoids belonging to the Telenomus busseolae (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) species complex on Sesamia calamistis (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) populations in maize fields in southern Benin. Biocontrol, Science and Technology 5, 69–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swaine, G. (1957) The maize and sorghum stalkborer, Busseola fusca (Fuller), in peasant agriculture in Tanganyika. Bulletin of Entomological Research 48, 711–722.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tahvanainen, J.O. & Root, R.B. (1972) The influence of vegetational diversity on the population ecology of specialized herbivore Phyllotreta crucifera (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Oecologia 10, 321–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, L.R. (1961) Aggregation, variance and the mean. Nature 189, 732–735.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Usua, E.J. (1970) Diapause in the maize stemborer. Journal of Economic Entomology 63, 1605–1610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vandermeer, J. (1989) The ecology of intercropping. 237 pp. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vandermeer, J.H. (1990) Intercropping, pp. 481–516in Carrol, C.R., Vandermeer, J.H., & Rosset, P.M., (Eds) Agroecology. New York, McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar