Je. Funderburk et al., THRIPS INJURY CAN REDUCE PEANUT YIELD AND QUALITY UNDER CONDITIONS OFMULTIPLE STRESS, Agronomy journal, 90(4), 1998, pp. 563-566
Severe injury from tobacco thrips [Frankliniella fusca (Hinds)] to see
dling peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) has not been documented to reduce y
ield and quality. However, thrips injury may be economically important
when combined with another factor, such as postemergence herbicide in
jury. This note reports results of a field experiment in which control
of tobacco thrips during an unusually dry early season greatly increa
sed peanut seed yield and quality. 'Florunner' peanut was grown using
preplant and postemergence herbicides for weed control. Treatments con
sisted of an untreated control and four labeled insecticides applied a
t planting or soon after crop emergence. Populations of adult tobacco
thrips were significantly suppressed by aldicarb [2-methyl-2-(methylth
io) propionaldehyde O-(methylcarbamoyl) oxime]; all insecticides signi
ficantly suppressed immature thrips. Aldicarb, the most efficacious in
secticide treatment, significantly improved peanut yield by 32% and qu
ality as determined by percentage of total sound mature kernels. All b
ut one of the remaining insecticide treatments significantly improved
seed yield, with increases ranging from 9 to 31%, Rainfall was extreme
ly low early in the growing season, and (based on 41 yr of records at
the site) drier conditions occur 10% of the time. This is a frequency
great enough to matter, but low enough to make further research diffic
ult. The observations reported here suggest that early-season moisture
stress intensifies peanut yield and quality losses associated with co
mbined injury from thrips and postemergence herbicides.