Environmental Entomology (1991) 20, 1720-1724

O. Olfert and M.A. Erlandson (1991)
Wheat foliage consumption by grasshoppers Orthoptera Acrididae infected with Melanoplus sanguinipes entomopoxvirus
Environmental Entomology 20 (6), 1720-1724
Abstract: First-instar grasshoppers infected with Melanoplus sanguinipes entomopoxvirus consumed 25% less food within 5 d (75 degree-days (DD), base 10.degree. C) after inoculation with 5 x 10³ virus occlusion bodies. Grasshoppers ate 25 and 40% less food by the end of the second week (200 DD, base 10° C) after being infected as first instars with 5 x 10² and 5 x 10³ occlusion bodies per individual, respectively. When infected as third instars with 1 x 10⁴ and 1 x 10⁵ occlusion bodies per individual, grasshoppers ate 20 and 35% less food by the second week of the study, respectively. The mean amount of food consumed by infected grasshoppers over the course of the study was 36, 31, 76, and 57% that of noninfected grasshoppers at dosages of 5 x 10² or 5 x 10³ occlusion bodies per first instar, and 1 x 10⁴ or 1 x 10⁵ occlusion bodies per third instar. This study suggests that an application of entomopoxvirus to first-instar grasshoppers will reduce their damage potential by causing initial mortality, by reducing the amount of plant material consumed by the surviving grasshoppers, and by preventing grasshopper maturation and reproduction (at higher doses). The negative influence of entomopoxvirus on grasshoppers in the interim between infection and death is integral to future evaluations of its potential as a crop protection measure.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Database assignments for author(s): Martin A. Erlandson, Owen Olfert

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Melanoplus sanguinipes
Melanoplus sanguinipes entomopoxvirus (entomopathogen)	Melanoplus sanguinipes