Abstract

Study of oviposition behavior of Etiella zinckenella Treitschke on several Indonesian localcultivars of soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merrill was conducted with multiple choice and no choice tests. This study confirmed that sequence of eggs oviposition of E. zinckenella on tropical region does not differ with other results on non-tropical region. Total number of egg deposited and oviposition frequency of E. zinckenella do not correlate with trichome density, trichome length and pod surface when they do not have a choice of host plants. On the contrary, on the condition of many host plants to choose, E. zinckenella prefers to deposit eggs on the cultivar with many short trichomes. The preference test based on soybean phenology showed that the E. zinckenella prefers R4 stage (fully filled pod) for oviposition.

Key words: Oviposition, Etiella zinckenella, Glycine max, phenology, trichome