Abstract
Since its recent establishment in Hawaii, the coffee berry borer (CBB), Hypothenemus hampei (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), threatens yields, quality and price of coffee production. A limited number of insecticides (primarily Beauveria bassiana) is used to control CBB with minimal disruption in this agroecosystem. We evaluated two insecticide spray strategies across eight coffee farms in the Kona and Ka‘u Districts of Hawaii Island. Coffee growers sprayed insecticides approximately monthly (calendar basis) or in response to CBB field-monitoring data (threshold-based). Overall, farms adopting thresholds performed more insecticide applications early in the season (May to July), but significantly fewer overall, when compared with calendar-based strategies (i.e., 4–5 versus 7–11 seasonal sprays, respectively). Generalized linear models assessing the variability in CBB infestation rates, berry penetration, and infection by B. bassiana indicated that threshold-based sprays provided equivalent CBB-control compared with calendar ones. When corrected for yield, there was a cost saving for threshold versus calendar-based spray programs (i.e., cost 5.4% versus 11.8% of gross yield). Total defects in processed coffee after harvest were statistically similar between the two spray regimes; i.e., 8.5% ± 1.0% and 10.4% ± 1.7%, respectively. We hypothesize that B. bassiana applied early in the season is more effective, since the fungus targets initial CBB infestations when the prolonged location of founder females in the outer berry endosperm favors its infection. Our study suggests that spray timing for CBB based on field monitoring data can reduce costs, however additional measures, such as field and post-harvest sanitation, are necessary to achieve sustainable CBB control in the Islands.
Highlights
Worldwide, at least 80 countries in tropical and subtropical regions produce coffee, Coffea arabica L. (Gentianales: Rubiaceae), on over 10 million ha (Vega et al, 2015)
Deployment of chemical insecticides and biological control agents, as well as cultural control practices focused on crop and post-harvest sanitation of infested berries (Damon, 2000; Jaramillo et al, 2006; Vega et al, 2009, 2015; Aristizábal et al, 2012, 2016; Infante, 2018)
In farms adopting threshold-based sprays, 75% of B. bassiana applications occurred in the early season (May–July), when colonizing coffee berry borer (CBB) females were observed as taking longer to penetrate immature berries that were unsuitable for oviposition (Figure 1)
Summary
At least 80 countries in tropical and subtropical regions produce coffee, Coffea arabica L. (Gentianales: Rubiaceae), on over 10 million ha (Vega et al, 2015). According to the International Coffee Organization (ICO) (2019), the global world coffee production was 168.8 million bags in 2018/19, with Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, Honduras, Ethiopia, and India being the largest coffee producer countries [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Statistics Division (FAOSTAT), 2020]. The arrival of the coffee berry borer (CBB), Hypothenemus hampei Ferrari (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), an invasive insect pest, into the Hawaiian Islands in 2010 (Burbano et al, 2011) threatens the sustainability of coffee production in the Islands. In addition to the CBB, several other invasive pests including the coffee leaf miner, Leucoptera coffeella Guerion-Meneville (Lepidoptera: Lyonetidae), and diseases such as coffee leaf rust, Hemileia vastratix Bert et Br., represent a serious threat for the coffee industry (Talhinhas et al, 2017; Pantoja-Gomez et al, 2019)
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