Spittlebugs (Hemiptera: Cercopidae) and their host plants: a strategy for pasture diversification

Information about the biology of spittlebugs on different species of forage is necessary for the development of tactics for their control, and is also essential for evaluating, selecting and launching new forage cultivars. The aims of this study were to compare the nutritional suitability of different forage species–Brachiaria ruziziensis (Congo grass), Pennisetum purpureum (elephant grass), Panicum maximum (Guinea grass), and Cynodon dactylon (Bermuda grass)–for the spittlebug species Mahanarva spectabilis (Distant) (Hemiptera: Cercopidae), Deois schach (Fabricius) (Hemiptera: Cercopidae) and Notozulia entreriana (Berg) (Hemiptera: Cercopidae), and to evaluate the performance of each spittlebug species on forage monocultures. B. ruziziensis was the most suitable host plant for D. schach. Since N. entreriana did not show differences in the evaluated parameters, it was not possible to determine its ideal forage species. For M. spectabilis, P. purpureum was the most suitable forage species. The evaluation of the performance of the different spittlebugs on a single forage species also showed which spittlebugs are a problem. M. spectabilis and D. schach developed better on a monoculture of B. ruziziensis. M. spectabilis was a major problem when it fed on P. purpureum, but on C. dactylon and P. maximum, none of the spittlebugs developed properly, indicating that these plants are less suitable for them. These results suggest that the forage diversification of pastures may be a strategy for the integrated management of spittlebugs.