Consumo e digestibilidade de Spodoptera frugiperda alimentada com folhas de milho tratadas com preparados isoterápicos

Abstract

Homeopathy is a science that has effects on healthy and diseased plants, with responses on plant growth and metabolism, as well as on plants attacked by insects, and isotherapy is a derivation of this practice. Scientific information on homeopathic and isotherapeutic preparations that present results in the defense system against herbivory by insects is still incipient. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate whether the isotherapeutic preparations affect the interaction between the herbivory of the caterpillar Spodoptera frugiperda and the corn plants, evaluating the consumption and digestibility of the leaves. The treatments consisted of crushed isotherapeutic preparations of S. frugiperda in the dynamizations 6CH, 9CH, 12CH, 15CH and 18CH, and the control (without homeopathy). The bioecological characteristics of S. frugiperda were evaluated: the approximate digestibility and relative consumption of the leaves. Data were subjected to analysis of variance and means were compared using Duncan's test, at a 5% error probability level. There was no statistical difference between the control and the treatments, therefore, the isotherapeutic preparations of S. frugiperda did not alter the consumption rate. There was a difference between the digestibility of caterpillars fed corn leaves in the 9CH and 15CH dynamizations of the isotherapeutic preparation.