Silvana Vieira de Paula-Moraes

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Degree-Days: Growing, Heating, and Cooling

Clyde W. Fraisse and Silvana V. Paula-Moraes

Know Your Pests When Trapping Soybean Looper in the Florida Panhandle

Ethan Carter, Tyler Shaw, Libbie Johnson, and Silvana V. Paula-Moraes

Pheromone trapping is a common scouting method used in collaboration with integrated pest management. A major crop pest of many plant species, including Panhandle crops like peanut and cotton, is the soybean looper.  A soybean looper pheromone-trapping study performed in Panhandle commercial peanut and cotton fields also attracted other species with similar appearances, sometimes in high numbers. Misidentification would result in overestimation of soybean looper populations and likely unnecessary insecticide applications. The sharp stigma looper, due to its high seasonal abundance and flight pattern similar to that of the soybean looper, was most concerning. This insect is not a pest and can be discerned from the soybean looper easily through its wing markings, if someone knows what to look for, but if these harmless moths were unwittingly thought of as soybean loopers, it could greatly skew population numbers and prompt improper applications of pesticides.

Insect and Mite Pest Management in Florida Peanut

Isaac L. Esquivel, Xavier Martini, Ethan Carter, and Silvana Paula-Moraes

Peanut is one of the most important cash crops grown in the United States, with an estimated production value of over $1 billion. The southeastern coastal plains harbor most of the US peanut acreage, and Florida is ranked among the top five major peanut producers in the US, with 160 thousand acres planted in 2022 and an annual production value of $130 million in 2021. The majority of peanut acreage in Florida is in the Panhandle and central Florida, in Jackson, Santa Rosa, and Levy counties. Several insect pests feed on various peanut plant parts, including foliage, roots, and fruiting structures. These pests can cause significant damage to the plant canopy and kernels and can also transmit diseases, reducing the quality and quantity of yield if they are not properly detected and managed. This publication serves as a guide for Extension agents and growers to provide an overview of proper sampling techniques and management for peanut pests found in the Florida Panhandle.

Rednecked Peanutworm Stegasta bosqueella (Chambers) (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)

Ethan Carter, Silvana V. Paula-Moraes, and Jennifer L. Gillett-Kaufman

The Featured Creatures collection provides in-depth profiles of insects, nematodes, arachnids and other organisms relevant to Florida. These profiles are intended for the use of interested laypersons with some knowledge of biology as well as academic audiences.

Field Corn Production Guide

David Wright, Ian Small, Cheryl Mackowiak, Zane Grabau, Pratap Devkota, and Silvana Paula-Moraes

This publication discusses several aspects of field corn production in Florida, such as economics, land preparation, hybrid selection, fertilization, irrigation, and disease management. Written by David Wright, Ian Small, Cheryl Mackowiak, Zane Grabau, Pratap Devkota, and Silvana Paula-Moraes, and published by the UF/IFAS Agronomy Department, revised August 2022.

Carinata, the Sustainable Crop for a Bio-based Economy: Production Recommendations for the Southeastern United States

R. Seepaul, I. M. Small, P. Devkota, H. Y. Sintim, M. J. Mulvaney, S. George, R. G. Leon, S. V. Paula-Moraes, Isaac L. Esquivel, R. Bennett, A. Pokrzywinski, D. Geller, J. J. Marois, and D. L. Wright

Brassica carinata is a non-food industrial oilseed crop that can be grown in the winter in the southeast US without impacting food, feed, or fiber crops. Carinata is a low carbon advanced renewable fuel feedstock and a good source of animal protein. Carinata research in the SE US through a public-private partnership has developed a comprehensive body of knowledge regarding carinata agronomics, life cycle analysis, best management practices and economics. This article aims to help growers and others interested in carinata to understand its biology, agronomy, and production aspects.