Abstract
Simple SummaryCoffee is produced in more than 60 countries by 25 million coffee producers, most of whom are smallholders in emergent countries. More than a beverage intake, coffee has become a ritual for an increasing number of consumers across the globe. This rising market demands modern management to improve grain quality, environment protecting, and produce pesticide-free products. Among several challenges to overcome, the coffee leaf miner (CLM) pest is one of the most severe threats to the coffee crop, especially in neotropical countries, such as Brazil, the world’s largest producer. Responsible for losses ranging from 30–70%, the CLM impairs the grain production and quality, which negatively reflects on the coffee production chain. Drawback aspects caused by chemical control with pesticides, such as the harmful effects to human health and environment and the selection of resistant-insect populations, prompt scientists to improve integrated pest management (IPM) tools. Therefore, the development of new resistant cultivars, biological control, nano-biopesticide products and other approaches are important strategies to a sustainable CLM control design. This review addresses basic knowledge of the insect L. coffeella and proposes novel insights for an IPM view.The coffee leaf miner (CLM) Leucoptera coffeella moth is a major threat to coffee production. Insect damage is related to the feeding behavior of the larvae on the leaf. During the immature life stages, the insect feeds in the mesophyll triggering necrosis and causing loss of photosynthetic capacity, defoliation and significant yield loss to coffee crops. Chemical control is used to support the coffee production chain, though market requirements move toward conscious consumption claiming for more sustainable methods. In this overview, we discuss aspects about the CLM concerning biology, history, geographical distribution, economic impacts, and the most relevant control strategies in progress. Insights to develop an integrated approach for a safer and eco-friendly control of the CLM are discussed here, including bio-extracts, nanotechnology, pheromones, and tolerant cultivars.
Highlights
Since the VI century, coffee consumption has expanded from goats to human beings and has been increasingly gaining followers
When feeding on the mesophyll of the coffee tree leaves, the insect creates mines that justify the common name of the pest—coffee leaf miner (Figure 6a)
Chemical control is a tool of great importance for agriculture, needed to reduce populations of pest species that reach infestation levels able of causing economic damage, such as the coffee leaf miner (CLM), which drastically reduces the productivity, mainly in cultivars of C. arabica and C. canephora
Summary
Since the VI century, coffee consumption has expanded from goats to human beings and has been increasingly gaining followers. Despite its origin in the African continent, CLM was first reported 178 years ago in coffee plantations in the Caribbean Antilles [22,23,24]. It was first named Elachista coffeella, assigned to Bucculatrix sp. It was included in the genus Leucoptera (Meyrick, 1895) and named L. coffeella in 1897 by Lord Walsingham. L. coffeella is a cosmopolitan pest (Figure 1a) and occurs in the leaves of coffee plants in Africa, Asia, and Neotropical countries, comprising Central America, the Caribbean islands, and South America [23,26,27,28].
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