METHODS FOR CONTROLLING THE CORN LEAFBALL (Dalbulus maidis) USING CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTS

Abstract

Brazil is the third largest corn producer in the world, with a production of approximately 102 million tons and a productivity of 5.5 tons/ha in the 2019/2020 harvest. This productivity is linked to phytosanitary quality standards, such as adequate cultural treatments, as well as the management of forecasts and diseases that affect work and cause great losses to the producer. With the increase in corn production, there is an increase in the reflection of predictions and diseases, due to successive crops, that is, first and second harvest, which generates reflexive conditions for the reproduction of predictions and transmission of diseases. Corn is one of the main crops in Brazilian agribusiness, being the second grain with the highest production and economic importance in the country. Its importance ranges from animal feed, as one of the main energy components of poultry and pig diets, and as an input for the production of feed for cattle, horses, sheep and goats, to as an ingredient in the food of millions of people around the world. The control of Dalbulus maidis in corn crops is carried out mainly by the chemical method, which can be done in the form of seed treatment with systemic insecticides, with several products registered for this method. These products act in the preventive control of initial forecasts such as Dalbulus maidis, avoiding severe attacks in the initial stages of crop development and thus ensuring that the plant can develop in a healthy and disease-free way.