Performance of soybean cultivars in integrated pest management in lowland agroecosystem

Abstract

Soybean crop represents a large economic share in the Brazilian agricultural production. In Rio Grande do Sul (RS), with each new crop cycle there is an increase in the area under cultivation. In the lowland environment, the crop covers 5.4 million hectares, corresponding to about 20% of the State total area. Using transgenic cultivars whose main advantage is controlling target insects, as well as the reduced number of insecticide applications throughout the crop can be a viable alternative. However, the high cost of transgenic seed is considered as the main disadvantage in adopting this technology. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of cultivars RR1 and RR2 in relation to the occurrence of caterpillars and stink bugs, as well as to evaluate the production cost. The experiment was set up at Embrapa Clima Temperado in the crop seasons of 2014/2015 and 2015/2016, with conventional cultivars (BMX Potência (RR1 6.7)) and Bt isolines (BMX Ponta (IPRO 6.6)) and BMX Vanguarda (IPRO 6.0)). BMX Potência cultivar showed a higher incidence of defoliating caterpillars and Nezara viridula stinkbug, but it is the most indicated cultivar, among those evaluated, for the south lowland environment of RS, due to its yield and profitability.