Location: Sustainable Perennial Crops Laboratory
2016 Annual Report
Objectives
Over the next five years we will focus on the following objective:
Objective 1: Develop novel pest management technologies for control of coffee berry borer, involving the use of sesquiterpene repellents and the fungal entomopathogen Metarhizium anisopliae.
• Sub-objective 1.A. Determine the effectiveness of a recently identified sesquiterpene as a coffee berry borer repellent.
• Sub-objective 1.B. Evaluate the biological control potential of microsclerotial formulations of the fungal entomopathogen Metarhizium spp.
These objectives will integrate various components that we believe are essential to greatly improving available pest management tactics and to move the field into a new direction.
Approach
The coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei, is the most devastating insect pest of coffee worldwide. Endemic to Africa, the beetle is now present in most coffee growing regions. Since most of its life cycle is spent inside the coffee berry, it is extremely difficult to control. Recent efforts aimed at managing the coffee berry borer have focused on biological control alternatives, including the release of parasitoids and the use of fungal entomopathogens. Mass production of some parasitoids has not been optimized, and in cases where these have been imported from Africa and released in the field, results have not been promising. Delivery of fungal entomopathogens remains a major obstacle due to the cryptic nature of the insect and the difficulty and cost of spraying in coffee plantations. This project will focus on two areas that will likely result in improved control of the coffee berry borer: (1) Determining the effectiveness of a repellent in reducing infestation levels; and (2) Assessing the effectiveness of microsclerotial granules of various species of the fungal entomopathogen Metarhizium against coffee berry borers that remain inside berries that have fallen on the ground. The results of this research project will greatly contribute towards the development of novel control tactics against this important agricultural pest.
Progress Report
The coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei) is the most devastating pest of coffee throughout the world and causes millions of dollars in losses each year. Increased knowledge on the basic biology of the coffee berry borer can result in new insights on how to control this insect, thereby reducing losses and increasing yields. A chemical produced by coffee berry borer-infested coffee plants has been identified as a coffee berry borer repellent in the laboratory and in a preliminary field trial. A technique has been successfully developed to test insect antennal responses to the compound. Various concentrations of the repellent were tested in the laboratory in a formulation suitable for field use (bubble caps) and an appropriate dose for field-testing has been selected. A technique was also developed to observe, monitor and film different types of insect behavior, such as gallery construction, oviposition, gallery blocking, mating and most remarkably, subsocial tasks like maternal sanitation and tending of eggs and larvae. Our findings have important implications for understanding the basic biology of this major pest and provides novel avenues for its control. This information will be of use to coffee scientists, entomologists, microbiologists, and the coffee industry.
Accomplishments
None.
Review Publications
Zhou, L., Vega, F.E., Tan, H., Ramirez Lluch, A., Meinhardt, L.W., Fang, W., Mischke, B.S., Irish, B.M., Zhang, D. 2016. Developing Single Nucleotide Polymorphism markers for the identification of Coffee germplasm. Tropical Plant Biology. 9:82-95.
Greenfield, M., Gomez-Jimenez, M.I., Ortiz, V., Vega, F.E., Kramer, M.H., Parsa, S. 2016. Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae endophytically colonize cassava roots following soil drench inoculation. Biological Control. 95:40-48.
