Crop-specific mortality of southern green stink bug eggs in Bt- and non-Bt cotton, soybean and peanut

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Increasing insecticide use against stink bugs erodes benefits accrued to cotton production in the southeastern USA by eradication of the boll weevil and widespread use of Bt-transgenic cotton. Biological control programs designed to mitigate the impact of these pests would be beneficial; therefore, we sought to identify and assess naturally occurring biological control agents of stink bug eggs in cotton, peanut and soybeans, three important crops and stink bug hosts in the region. Two studies were conducted utilising digital imaging of sentinel egg masses to capture enemies present and sequential imaging over time to characterise the type and amount of damage inflicted on the egg masses. The first study utilised plots of soybean, Bt cotton, non-Bt cotton and peanut. The second study focused on ant predation in cotton by excluding fire ants from half of the plots. Sentinel egg masses of the southern green stink bug were placed in all plots at weekly intervals and were photographed at placement and at intervals over 72 h. Surviving egg masses were collected and held in the laboratory to assess parasitism in the first study. Predation of eggs was high in peanut (74–86%) and soybean (39–65%), and lower in Bt (26–34%) and non-Bt (4–21%) cotton over the two years. Parasitism was low overall (0.17–19.0%). Most egg predation in cotton and peanut was attributable to fire ants, whereas long-horned grasshoppers dominated in soybean. Exclusion of fire ants in cotton significantly reduced egg mortality, indicating their predominance as mortality agents in cotton.