Abundance of Coffee berry borer in feral, abandoned and managed coffee on Hawaii Island

Abstract

AbstractCoffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei Ferrari), the most damaging insect pest of coffee worldwide, was first detected on Hawaii Island in 2010. Poorly managed, abandoned and feral coffee sites on the island have since been thought to harbour coffee berry borer (CBB) populations, which then negatively impact neighbouring coffee farms. In the present study, we sought to quantify CBB abundance in these sites, which vary in management intensity and vegetation structure and diversity. We collected data on trap catch as a measure of CBB flight activity, fruit production and fruit infestation by CBB in eight well‐managed farms and sites that were either poorly managed, abandoned or feral (wild) coffee. Sites were sampled bi‐weekly over a period of 2 years from 2016 to 2017. We found that CBB flight activity was significantly higher in poorly managed sites relative to abandoned and feral sites, but was not significantly different from well‐managed sites. Coffee production in well‐managed farms was significantly higher than in abandoned and feral sites, but was not significantly different from poorly managed farms. CBB infestation in poorly managed sites was significantly higher than that observed in well‐managed, abandoned and feral sites. We estimated an average load of 11–25 CBB per branch at poorly managed sites, compared to 3–9 per branch at well‐managed sites, 1–16 per branch at abandoned sites and 1–3 per branch at feral sites. Our findings suggest that poorly managed sites should be prioritized for implementation of CBB control measures as part of a landscape‐level integrated pest management (IPM) programme.