Efficacy of Silicon Formulations on Sugarcane Stalk Borers, Quality Characteristics and Parasitism Rate on Five Commercial Varieties

Abstract

Sugarcane is an important cash crop in Iran and it is exclusively cultivated in more than one hundred hectares of Khuzestan province. One proven and ecologically sound best management practice in sugarcane is application of silicon to mitigate for both biotic and abiotic stresses. It has been proved that silicon can enhance resistance of sugarcane against stalk borers. Also, new hypothesis suggests that silicon may increase attraction of biological control agents to infested plants. Field trials were carried out at Salman-Farsi Agro-Industry Farms to determine the effects of three liquid formulations of silicon against infestations of stalk borer, Sesamia spp. and parasitism rates of egg parasitoid Telenomus busseolae Gahan using varieties CP57-614, CP48-103, CP69-1062, IRC99-01 and SP70-1143. The experiments were conducted as complete block design with three formulations of silicon. Prior to harvest twenty stalks were selected at random to determine percentage of stalk damage, percentage of bored internodes, length of borer tunnel, number of larvae + pupae per 100 stalks, number of exit holes as well as cane yield quality characteristics. In two consecutive years, the rate of parasitism on treated and untreated plots in each variety were recorded. The results from the present study showed that there were some significant differences between silicon treatments and control on borer’s damage and quality sugarcane parameters but in some cases the differences were not significant. The present findings on the efficacy of silicon treatments on biological control suggested that silicon enhanced biological control attractions as shown by parasitism rate.