Field trials with a nuclear polyhedrosis virus and Bacillus thuringiensis against larvae of Heliothis armigera (Hb.) (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) on sorghum and cotton in Botswana

Six trials with an unpurified suspension of Heliothis armigera nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV) against Heliothis armigera (Hb.) larvae on sorghum (five trials) and on cotton (one trial) during 1971–73 are described. Commercial preparations of H. zea NPV and of Bacillus thuringiensis were included in two of the trials. H. armigera NPV was as successful as a standard insecticide in preventing losses of sorghum in one trial. Lowering the rate of NPV reduced the control of H. armigera larvae. There was no difference in control achieved by spraying in the morning or in the evening. Spraying every second or every third row (relying on natural spread of the virus) reduced control. Low concentrations of molasses (0·6%) made control by 100 larval equivalents (L.E.) per hectare as good as that by 200 L.E. per hectare without molasses. Neither the commercial H. zea NPV nor the Bacillus preparation was as effective as the local virus. The local virus was reasonably effective against H. armigera on cotton at very high rates and with molasses. It was not as damaging as carbaryl to populations of egg parasites and predators, but the predators did not control damaging populations of aphid and Jassid on the virus-sprayed plots.