Abstract
Coffee plants host several herbivorous species, but only few are considered pests. Brazil is the largest coffee producer of the world, and the two key coffee pests of the crop in the country are the coffee leaf minerLeucoptera coffeellaand the coffee berry borerHypothenemus hampei. However, in some regions or on specific conditions, species of mites and scales can also cause damage to coffee plants. Conventional management of coffee pests relies on chemical pesticides, and it is the most commonly used strategy in Brazil, but environmental problems, pest resistance, and toxicity-related issues have led coffee growers to search for alternatives for pest control. Agro-ecological strategies suitable to coffee cultivation can be adopted by farmers, based on plant diversification, in order to provide resources for natural enemies, such as nectar, pollen, shelter, microclimate conditions, and oviposition sites, thereby promoting conservation biological control. Here I revise these strategies and report the results from research in Brazil. I include results on agroforestry, use of cover crops, and non-crop plant management. These are complemented by curative measures based on the use of organic farming-approved pesticides that can be employed when the agro-ecological practices are not yet consolidated. I also present the cultural control method used by several coffee producers in Brazil to decrease coffee berry borer damage.
Highlights
Coffee (Coffee arabica L. and Coffee canephora L) (Rubiaceae) can host at least 850 insect species, but only few are considered major pests (Le Pelley, 1968)
The authors used a system model that incorporates realistic field models based on considerable new field data and models for coffee plant growth, coffee berry borer (CBB) development, and dynamics on CBB control strategies, including biological control
Coffee agro-ecosystems are managed by human labor, which means that providing ecosystem service of biological pest control depends on a co-work between human and nature (Bengtsson, 2015)
Summary
Agriculture and Livestock Research Enterprise of Minas Gerais (EPAMIG), Viçosa, Brazil. Brazil is the largest coffee producer of the world, and the two key coffee pests of the crop in the country are the coffee leaf miner Leucoptera coffeella and the coffee berry borer Hypothenemus hampei. Agro-ecological strategies suitable to coffee cultivation can be adopted by farmers, based on plant diversification, in order to provide resources for natural enemies, such as nectar, pollen, shelter, microclimate conditions, and oviposition sites, thereby promoting conservation biological control. I include results on agroforestry, use of cover crops, and non-crop plant management. These are complemented by curative measures based on the use of organic farmingapproved pesticides that can be employed when the agro-ecological practices are not yet consolidated. I present the cultural control method used by several coffee producers in Brazil to decrease coffee berry borer damage
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