ECONOMIC DAMAGE LEVEL FOR SOYBEAN DEFOLIATION IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF PARAGOMINAS, PARÁ STATE, BRAZIL
Glicine max (L.). Pest control. IPM. Sustainability.
The defoliation caused by insects stands out as one of the main limiting factors of soybean grain yield. The damage caused by pests varies from one place of cultivation to another, according to characteristics of climate, variety, management, depending on the species and population density of the insect. The application of insecticides in the soybean crop, based on pre-scheduled packages and protocols, has reduced the population of natural enemies, increased resistance of insect pests and the contamination of man and the environment, as well as raising production costs. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) proposes actions that reduce the need for the use of chemical inputs, among them, the use of the Economic Damage Level (EDL) and the Level of Action (LA) that can help the apply the insecticide at the appropriate time. However, NDE and NA for soybean defoliants were defined based on studies carried out by EMBRAPA, in the states of Paraná, Mato Grosso and Goiás, which have different soil and climatic characteristics than those of the State of Pará. The objective of this work was to determine the level of economic damage to defoliation of soybean in the field conditions of the municipality of Paragominas-PA. The research was developed in the Juparanã area, on the farm called Progresso. The cultivar M 8644 IPRO was used with four levels of artificial defoliation: 0%, 16%, 33% and 67% in the phenological stages V8, R2 and R5. The experimental design was a randomized block design in the 4x3 factorial scheme with four replications. Leaf area index and productivity components were evaluated. Data were submitted to analysis of variance and when there was interaction between the factors, regression analyzes were done through SAS University Edition software. None of the defoliation levels in the V8 stage affected soybean yield. In R2, the yield of grains becomes affected with defoluts larger than 26.46%, and greater than 15.09% in R5.