Comparison of tobacco variety CU 263 versus a standard tobacco variety against tobacco budworm under field conditions in South Carolina

摘要

The tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens (F.), is a major insect pest of fluecured tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.). In South Carolina, it is usually the most important insect pest on tobacco. In 1995, Clemson University's Pee Dee Research and Education Center released 'CU 263', the first insect-resistant tobacco cultivar available in the United States. In replicated small-plot tests, this cultivar exhibited moderate resistance to the tobacco budworm (Johnson 1996). Budworms will still feed on CU 263; however, their life cycle and larval development are slowed compared with conventional cultivars (Johnson 1996). Although CU 263 was tested in the Flue-cured Tobacco Regional Small Plot Test in 1992 and 1994, and in the Regional Farm Test in 1994 (Flue-Cured Tobacco Variety Evaluation Committee 1992, 1994), it had not been tested under large-scale grower conditions. The purpose of this experiment was to compare CU 263 against standard tobacco cultivars under large field grower conditions.