Resumen

ROJAS, Mainor. Sustainable management of coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei) by systematic pruning of coffee plants. Agron. Costarricense [online]. 2012, vol.36, n.2, pp.71-79. ISSN 0377-9424.

Assessments were performed in 29 coffee plantations in 9 locations in Costa Rica and a field trial was conducted, with the purpose of studying the behavior of the coffee berry borer attack in plots with different pruning systems and validating the differentiated pest control in a row-pruning (every 3 years) system. The assessment of the coffee berry borer, in sites where pruning is performed per plot every 3 years, showed a reduction of 48 percent in the attacks to 1-year branches in relation to the 2-year branches; in plots where row pruning is performed every 4 years, attacks were 52 and 65 percent less in 1 and 2-year branches than in 3-year branches. A similar effect was observed in plots with row pruning every 3 years, where 1-year branches had an average of 56 percent less attack than 2-year branches. In the field trial, after the differentiated application of insecticide, the percentage of fruits with coffee berry borers alive in the 2-year row was of 0.7 percent in both treatments at 90 days after application; whereas in the 1-year row this percentage was 0.7 percent where the insecticide was applied and 1 percent where it was not applied, with no significant differences between treatments. The differentiated control of the coffee berry borer, in a pruning system per row performed every 3 years, made it possible to save 30% in application time, 40% in insecticide and 36.5% in water used for aspersion, by making the application to only 33% of the coffee plantation, and without putting into risk the rest of the area cultivated. It was concluded that pruning per plot, as well as per row, makes it possible to concentrate the coffee berry borer in small areas of the coffee plantation, which contributes to pest control management.

Palabras clave : Coffea arabica; coffee berry borer; Hypothenemus hampei; integrated management; systematic pruning.

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