Suitability of transgenic glyphosate-resistant soybeans to green cloverworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Host plant suitability to green cloverworm, Hypena scabra (F.), was evaluated on two conventional soybean varieties (Stine 2499-0 and 2972-2) and two RoundUp Ready Soybeans (Stine 2506-4 and 2892-4) with and without exposure to glyphosate. No differences among treatments were detected on developmental time and survivorship. Developmental time from first instar to adult ranged from 24.7 to 25.5 d, and survivorship ranged from 86 to 96%. No sex bias was observed among treatments (proportion of females ranged from 0.41 to 0.50). Morphological differences were observed between sexes; males had a longer and wider thorax, longer wings, and longer body. Females had longer and wider abdomens. Although treatments did not affect size (calculated with principal component analyses), significant differences were observed between males and females. These results suggest that soybean genetic differences (between conventional varieties and analogous transgenic varieties) or plant stress (induced by glyphosate metabolization) do not affect the plant suitability to H. scabra.