EFFECT OF PESTICIDE APPLICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONTROL OF STINK BUGS IN THE SOYBEAN CROP

ABSTRACT Stink bugs are an important pest in the soybean crop. The aim of this research was to evaluate the control of this pest with pesticides applied at two air speeds using an air assisted sleeve boom sprayer arranged with two nozzles. Two experiments were carried out at FCA/UNESP Botucatu, SP (Brazil), using soybean plants of the Conquista variety (season 2006/2007). The experimental design was randomized blocks with 5 treatments and 4 repetitions in a 2 x 2 + 1 factorial scheme (two levels of air speed, 0 and 100%, two nozzles: flat fan nozzle AXI 11002 and hollow cone nozzle JA-2, plus nontreated plots). The insecticide tiametoxam associated with lambdacialotrina (experiment 1) at 25.38 + 19.08 g i.a. ha-1 and endosulfan (experiment 2) at 437.5 g.i.a. per hectare were applied in the growth stage V6 with support of the spray Advanced Vortex 2000 using a volume rates of 200 L ha-1 for both treatments and experiments. The evaluations before (0) and 1, 3, 6, 10 and 14 days after applications were made by the method of hits on the cloth. The average numbers of stink bugs were significantly lower in treated plots in relation to nontreated plots. In general, there was no statistical difference between the application technologies in both experiments.