EN 
PT_BR 
The SC Corn Monitoring Program recorded a significant increase in corn leafhoppers last week. According to the program coordinator and Epagri researcher, Maria Cristina Canale Rappussi da Silva, the previous weeks had an average of 85 and 66.7 leafhoppers per trap in each location. However, the most recent survey revealed a significant increase, with 118.4 insects per trap. “This behavior is expected. Previous monitoring shows that it is more difficult to enter the field with machinery to perform chemical management during the reproductive phase of corn, which should be carried out in the vegetative phase, the most critical”, she emphasizes.
Photo: Guilherme Viana
Despite the increase in insect populations, the incidence of leafhoppers infected with the most aggressive pathogens, the spiroplasma of pale stunt and the phytoplasma of red stunt, remains low throughout the state of Santa Catarina. Maria Cristina warns that the symptoms of bacterial infection in plants include reddish leaves, reduced and malformed ears, as well as smaller plants with shortened internodes.
The researcher explains that it is necessary to think about the survival of insects during the off-season. Corn leafhopper monitoring is carried out until the end of the second crop, because it is important to know whether the insects are infected or not. “We hope to end the second crop with a reasonable number of insects in the wild. What we do not want is for them to be contaminated with pathogens, because the possibility of them surviving during the off-season in tiguera corn, also known as volunteer corn, is very high,” she states.
Farmers should be aware of the presence of leafhoppers in their crops and the reports published weekly. The Monitora Milho SC program collects and disseminates information from across the state, allowing the production sector to monitor the evolution of the leafhopper population and infections caused by these insects. The state average of leafhoppers found per trap is 118.4. Last week, the presence of the striated mosaic virus and the red stunt phytoplasma bacteria were detected. The positive cases were recorded in insects collected in the cities of Braço-do-Norte, Guatambu and Irati.
The Monitora Milho SC program collects and publishes weekly information from the entire state, allowing the production sector to monitor the evolution of the leafhopper population and infections caused by these insects. The state average of leafhoppers found per trap is 105.6. In the last week, the presence of pale stunt spiroplasma or striated mosaic virus was not detected.
The attack of leafhoppers infected with the pathogens of corn stunt can substantially compromise the production of corn crops. To monitor the situation, the Monitora Milho SC program was created in early 2021, an initiative of the Action Committee against Corn Leafhopper and Associated Pathogens, composed of Epagri, Udesc, Cidasc, Ocesc, Fetaesc, Faesc, CropLife Brasil and the State Secretariat of Agriculture and Livestock.
