Impacts of Tillage, Maturity Group, and Insecticide Use on Megacopta cribraria (Hemiptera: Plataspidae) Populations in Double-Cropped Soybean.

Megacopta cribraria (F.), also known as the kudzu bug, is a soybean pest in the United States, and it can cause up to a 60% yield reduction if not controlled. Insecticides are commonly used to manage this pest in commercial soybean fields. However, other soybean production practices may also affect kudzu bug populations. This study investigated the effect of soil tillage, maturity group selection, and insecticide use on kudzu bug densities in soybean. During 2012 and 2013, at two locations each year in North Carolina, four varieties of soybean maturity groups were planted in June into conventionally tilled plots and into plots with cereal crop residue under reduced tillage conditions (mimicking double-crop production). Plots were further split as insecticide-protected and untreated. Four times more kudzu bugs were found in conventionally tilled than reduced till plots throughout the growing season. Selection of the maturity group influenced the attractiveness of the kudzu bug to oviposit on soybean. A 56% reduction of kudzu bug densities was achieved through insecticide treatment, with an ∼6% increase in yield. Information on how production practices, including soil tillage, affect kudzu bug populations in soybean may help growers select practices to minimize kudzu bug injury and protect yield.