DIVERSITY AND ABUNDANCE OF PREDACEOUS ARTHROPODS ASSOCIATED WITH DIFFERENT COTTON CULTIVARS

Abstract

With the objective of studying the abundance and diversity of predaceous arthropods associated with cotton crop, and analyze the influence of meteorological factors, interactions between natural enemies and population dynamics of coccinellids associated with their principal prey, the aphid Aphis gossypii, an experiment was carried out in the region of Ipameri, Goiás State, Brazil, at the Universidade Estadual de Goiás campus. The experimental design was randomized blocks, with five treatments, consisting of the DeltaOPAL, FMX 966, FMX 993, FMX 910, and NuOPAL cultivars, in four replications. Among the arthropods sampled in the cotton crop, the coccinellids and spiders were the most abundant ones in the cultivars evaluated. Spiders occurred throughout the cotton cycle, while the coccinellids population increased gradually until 55 DAE, showing a population peak at 34 DAE, coinciding with the population peak of aphids (Aphis gossypii). Among the coccinellids observed in the cultivars under study, Scymnus spp. was the most abundant in cotton. The pentatomid and forficulid occurred from 99 to 128 days after the emergence of cotton, which corresponds to the highest density of target pest insects. It was not found influence of meteorological factors or negative interactions among predaceous arthropods.

KEY-WORDS: Gossypium hirsutum; natural enemies, coccinellids.