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Soil type selection for oviposition by gravid females of the armoured ground cricket Acanthoplus speiseri Brancsik (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae), a pest of grain crops in Zambia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2007

Keith J. Mbata
Keith J. Mbata*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Zambia, PO Box 32379, Lusaka, Zambia
*
*Email: Kmbata@natsci.unza.zm
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Abstract

Soil type selection for oviposition by gravid females of the armoured ground cricket Acanthoplus speiseri Brancsik (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae), a pest of grain crops in Zambia, was investigated. Twenty randomly collected samples of different types of soil, each replicated five times in an oviposition choice tray, were made available to 20 gravid females maintained in an environmental chamber, and the number of egg pods deposited per soil sample recorded. Physical and chemical characteristics of each soil sample were analysed. Properties of the soil that served as important cues to soil type selection for oviposition by the gravid females were identified and used to develop a best subset regression analysis model, for use by farmers to predict egg pod numbers of the pest in soils collected from their crop fields. There were significant differences (P<0.05) in the mean number of egg pods deposited per soil sample. Acidic, loam, clay loam and sandy loam soils with a pH range of 4.41–6.62, were the preferred soil types for oviposition. The single most important soil quality that accounted for much of the variation observed in mean egg pod number among the soil samples was pH (adjusted r2=0.1152). This was followed by mineral composition, particularly of the elements K (adjusted r2=0.1084) and P (adjusted r2=0.0731). Characteristics of the 20 soil samples tested are presented. Impacts of interactions among the soil characteristics on mean egg pod number are explained and the procedure for using the developed predictive model by farmers in crop protection is discussed.

Keywords

Acanthoplus speiseriHetrodinaeovipositionsoil type selectionTettigoniidae
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Tropical Insect Science , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , December 2004 , pp. 271 - 279
Copyright
Copyright © ICIPE 2004

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