POTENTIAL OF NICOTIANA-KAWAKAMII (SOLANACEAE) AS A TRAP CROP FOR PROTECTING FLUE-CURED TOBACCO FROM DAMAGE BY HELIOTHIS-VIRESCENS (LEPIDOPTERA, NOCTUIDAE) LARVAE

Nicotiana kawakamii Y. Ohashi is a wild relative of commercial tobacco , Nicotiana tabacum L. Feeding experiments showed that tobacco budworm larvae, Heliothis virescens (F.), survive and develop as well on N. k awakamii as they do on flue-cured tobacco. Field-cage experiments demo nstrated that N. kawakamii was preferred over flue-cured tobacco by ov ipositing a virescens moths. Thus, N. kawakamii was tested as a potent ial trap crop for protecting commercial tobacco fields from damage by a virescens larvae. During 1992-1994 at Oxford, NC, N. kawakamii was p lanted in every 5th row of flue-cured tobacco fields. The percentage o f plants infested with a virescens larvae averaged 4.3 times higher in rows of N. kawakamii than in adjacent rows of flue-cured tobacco. Als o, tobacco in rows adjacent to N. kawakamii often had less damage from a virescens than did tobacco in remote control fields, suggesting tha t N. kawakamii has potential as a trap crop in tobacco production. The re were no significant differences in the percentages of parasitism by Cardiochiles nigriceps Viereck and Campoletis sonorensis (Cameron) fo r a virescens larvae collected from hi kawakamii or tobacco. Hornworm larvae, Manduca spp., were also monitored, but N. kawakamii provided n o consistent protection from infestations of this pest.