Acoustic interruption on the imago of brown planthopper and the number of offspring produced

Abstract

Brown planthopper (BPH, Nilaparvata lugens Stal.) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) is one of the important rice pest, either in tropical and four seasoned regions. The attack of brown planthopper reached 85.989 ha and 1.969 ha of them considered hopperburn. BPH is a sexual insect, which needs to mate to breed. This research aimed to interrupt the mating process and to decline BPH’s offspring. The mating process started with an exchange of the acoustical signal between male and female. These signals propagated through rice stem where male and female aligned. One alternative that can be used in BPH control is disruption in its mating process. The principle used is to disrupt communication between male and female through exposure of acoustical signals in the form of sound waves, so that they are not expected to mate. Sound waves propagated in the different frequencies (0 Hz, 100 Hz, 200 Hz, 300 Hz, dan 200+300 Hz). Sound wave exposure adjusted to BPH’s potential mating times (08.00-11.00, 12.00-15.00, 18.00-21.00). Result showed that BPH’s offspring after exposure to sound waves with frequencies 0 Hz, 100 Hz, 200 Hz, 300 Hz, 200+300 Hz counted respectively 39,4; 10,64; 11,4; 22,4; 2,2. Exposure to sound waves might play a role in disrupting BPH’s mating process and reducing the number of its offspring.