Abstract
One of the most important pests that affect the blue agave, Agave tequilana is Scyphophorus acupunctatus Gyllenhal which as larvae bore into and make galleries in the plant and also damage plant tissues as adults. In the present study, the abundance of S. acupunctatus was analyzed in plantations of A. tequilana of ages of 2, 3 and 4 years through monthly samples from May to November of 2016 in nine plantations distributed in the municipalities of Tequila, Magdalena and Arandas in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. In each plantation, nine traps were placed with synthetic aggregation pheromone (2-methyl-4-octanone 950 g/L y 2-methyl-4- octanol 5g/L), placed 50 m apart and arranged as follows: three within the A. tequilana plantings, three on the crop edges, and three in adjacent non-cultivated areas, for a total of 81 traps which were checked monthly. The temperature and humidity of each plantation was registered with dataloggers and the precipitation from data from NASA, as well as historical data of these variables were obtained from 1951 to 2016. A total of 4,390 individuals were trapped, consisting of 3,289 females and 1,101 males. We found significant differences among the weevil abundance in A. tequilana plots of different age and agronomic management. There was less abundance of weevils in plantations where no agrochemicals were used and where natural vegetation was allowed within rows suggesting that natural habitat complexity is an important factor in reducing the abundance of the weevil.
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More From: Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington
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