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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 September 2011
Field plots and cage experiments were conducted to study the effects of intercropping sorghum, millet and maize on infestation by the most important lepidopterous stem-borers of the three crops. Intercropping was done both within and between rows. The highest number of B. fusca eggs were deposited on sorghum, followed by maize and least on millet, among the sole crops. The number of eggs found in the crop mixtures was intermediate between the numbers obtained when the crop components comprising the mixtures were considered as sole crops and averaged. The inability of B. fusca adults to effectively utilize millet for oviposition, reduced larval infestation of sorghum stems when interplanted with millet. The best combination was millet interplanted with sorghum in alternate stands within the same row. The millet stem-borer, A. ignefusalis also showed definite preference for millet, but infestation on millet did not seem to be affected by intercropping with either sorghum or maize.