The effect on maize aphids and aphid predators of granular formulations of
carbofuran and lindane applied at sowing was evaluated from plant emergence
to flowering in a three-year study at two commercial farms. Plots treated
with carbofuran showed lower total aphid and alate densities during the fir
st week after plant emergence. Later, densities in carbofuran-treated plots
were significantly higher than in lindane-treated or untreated plots. No d
ifferences in the presence of predators on plants were found, but at one fa
rm catches of polyphagous ground-foraging predators in pitfall traps were g
reater in untreated plots, coinciding with lower aphid density on plants. R
esults indicate that the use of carbofuran, in our crop conditions, for con
trolling aphids and preventing MDMV was ineffective because aphid colonizat
ion and reproduction was not avoided, so allowing virus transmission, and g
round-foraging predators were negatively affected. Lindane had no direct ef
fect on aphids; and no indirect effects through its impact on predators wer
e observed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.