Sampling leafhoppers on maize (Zea mays), on sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and on weeds, using a sweep net, indicated that the number of strokes over 10 m had no effect on the number of insects collected. Dalbulus maidis (DeLong & Wolcott) was the most common of the leafhoppers collected on maize (93%), on sorghum (40%) and on weeds (34%). The species Peregrinus maidis (Ashmead) was less abundant on all three studied environments. The corn leafhopper D. maidis, was more efficiently collected using a plastic bag by covering individual maize plants than using a sweep net. One, five and 10 adults/ plant confined on 10-15 days old plants during a week caused little feeding damage. A quadratic relationship was observed between corn leafhopper infestation density with canopy and root system dry weights of 10-d old plants. The highest level of infestation used (10 adults/plant) reduced 40% of the canopy and 62% of the root system dry weight.
Insecta; vector; corn leafhopper; Peregrinus maidis; Zea mays; Sorghum bicolor
