Soil-fertility management and host preference by European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner), on Zea mays L.: A comparison of organic and conventional chemical farming

Traditional fertilization and its effect on corn insect populations in the Guatemalan highlands

“…The lack of significant differences among first year treatments supports growing evidence that the effects of organic fertilizers on soils and plants are detectable only in the long term (Culik, 1983;Scow et al, 1994;Phelan et al, 1995). The explanation in this case, however, does not seem to be the long-term effect of the organic fertilizer.…”

“…Efforts by entomologists to evaluate the effects of fertilization on insect pest populations have not been conclusive. Some evidence supports the observation that organic fertilizers diminish herbivorous insect populations (Culliney and Pimentel, 1986;Eigenbrode and Pimentel, 1988;Listinger, 1993;Phelan et al, 1995), whereas other reports suggest that organic fertilizers do not always diminish pest populations but even increase them (Costello, 1994;Costello and Altieri, 1995;Letourneau et al, 1996). There clearly is a lack of understanding of the relationship between organic fertilization and insect pests.…”

Opposing effects of organic and conventional fertilizers on the performance of a generalist and a specialist aphid species

“…Innes, and in a field trial higher P. xylostella populations were found on plots fertilized 284 with ammonium nitrate (Staley et al, 2010). In a greenhouse experiment, Ostrinia 285 nubilalis (European corn borer) oviposition was reduced on maize grown in organic soils 286 compared with conventional soils (Phelan et al, 1995). The latter finding led Phelan et 287 al.…”

“…The use of animal or plant-45 derived fertilizers can change the amount and/ or rate of nitrogen supplied to crop plants 46 compared to synthetic fertilizers (Staley et al, 2010), as well as the concentration of other 47 elements such as sulphur (Phelan et al, 1995(Phelan et al, , 1996. Nitrogen concentration can alter the 48 performance of individual herbivores (Fox & Macauley, 1977;De Bruyn et al, 2002) and 49 thus affect the population growth rate of phytophagous insects (Mattson, 1980;White, 50 1984).…”

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“…They have also reported that increased level of nitrogen in the crop plants has been considered the principal factor for the elevated levels of pest incidence and abundance. The other researchers who have made concerted efforts to report the impact of agronomic practices on these scores include Culliney and Pimentel (1986), Eigenbrode and Pimentel (1988), Kajimura (1995), Phelan et al (1995) and Eisley (1992) and Brustet al (1985) working on tillage practices, and Hill (1989) and Malur, located 30-40 km from each other. The findings emanated from the investigation are discussed in the light of those in the available literature to arrive at a pertinent conclusion.…”