The diversity of insects in opened land utilization with a cultivation of Brachiaria mutica forage in ‘Sentrum Agraris Lotta’

Abstract

An opened land which has been abandoned could be revitalized by forage cultivation could be a good alternative, but the extent to which the diversity of insects visiting and or engaging in this cultivation was not well known. The presence of insects in Brachiaria mutica cultivation site could play an integrated role on various components of the environment. This study aimed to determine the level of insect diversity found in B. mutica grass cultivation sites on opened land without restriction of solar radiation. The identification of insects in this study was carried out at the family level. The collection of insect visiting and or engaging at the B. mutica cultivation site was carried out at 10 points on the transect line using a pitfall-trap at 5 points A and a swing net trap at 5 points B. The insect diversity was calculated based on the Shannon-Wiener index calculation. The results obtained were fourteen insect families detected at the research location, and the most widely monitored were from the Formicidae family (n=219), followed by Acrididae (n=23), Termitidae (n=17), Tortricidae (n=17), Tettigoniidae (n=15), Pentatomidae (n=16), Culicidae (n=14), while the other families detected were between 1 and 7 individuals. The obtained Shannon-Wiener index value was H’= 1.520 which indicated that the diversity level of insects at the observation site was at a moderate level.