A Note on the Incidence of American Bollworm Heliothis Armigera (Hub.) (Noctuidae) in Sorghum

Abstract

The American bollworm, a troublesome pest of cotton in Africa, feeds on a wide range of plants. Maize is an important host, and often serves as a source of Heliothis adults which lay eggs on the cotton crop. At silking time, the moth may be attracted away from cotton to oviposit on the maize silks. The relative planting time of the maize determines whether it is harmful or beneficial to the cotton crop. Pearson (1958) has reviewed the literature on this. The sorghum crop in East Africa can also carry large American bollworm populations (Peat et al. 1955, Saville et al. 1958), and a high incidence of Heliothis larvae in types with compact panicles has been reported (Valentine 1954, Peat et al. 1955). The very similar New World bollworm H. zea (Boddie) is a sorghum pest in the U.S.A. (Quinby and Gaines 1942, Randolph 1959). The data reported here were collected at Ukiriguru, Tanganyika, in 1954-55.