ABSTRACT
The soybean pod borer, Maruca vitrata, can cause great damage by attacking pods from soybean plants. The aim of this study was to evaluate the field efficacy of chemical pesticides, when applied in spray, against soybean pod borer. The experiment was conducted in the experimental area of Fundação, MS, in Maracaju, MS, Brazil, in the growing season 2012/2013. The randomized block design was used with six treatments (teflubenzuron, flubendiamide, methomyl, chlorantraniliprole + lambda-cyhalothrin, chlorpyrifos, and a control treatment without insecticide) and five replications, on cultivar BMX Turbo RR. Evaluations were performed at one, four, seven, 10, and 14 days after pesticides application (DAA), and were based on the percentage of attacked plants with M. vitrata presence, and the number of alive larvae per plant. On each evaluation, 10 plants per plot were analyzed. The data were subjected to ANOVA and the treatment means were compared by Tukey test at 5% probability. Pesticides teflubenzuron, flubendiamide, chlorantraniliprole + lambda-cyhalothrin, and chlorpyrifos significantly reduced the percentage of attacked plants by M. vitrata. Chlorpyrifos, teflubenzuron, and chlorantraniliprole + lambda-cyhalothrin showed higher field efficacy to control M. vitrata from the first day after application. However, flubendiamide showed good efficacy from 10 days after application, and joined the group with higher efficacy (chlorpyrifos, teflubenzuron, and chlorantraniliprole + lambda-cyhalothrin). Methomyl showed no field efficacy against legume pod borer.