Location: Sustainable Perennial Crops Laboratory
2017 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
Progress was made on Objective 1, Subobjective 1A, which falls under National Program 304, Crop Protection and Quarantine, Component 3, Insects and Mites, Sub-component 3A: Agricultural and Horticultural Cropping Systems, Problem Statement 3A2: Systems approach to environmentally-sound pest management. Under Subobjective 1A, we made significant progress in identifying a repellent that might be effective against the coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei), the most devastating insect pest of coffee worldwide. A paper reporting the repellent effects of a chemical produced by coffee berry borer-infested coffee plants has been submitted. The ARS collaborator in Peoria, Illinois has left the agency and we therefore shifted our research emphasis to one of the contingencies, i.e., investigations aimed at elucidating the behavior of the insect using a novel technique involving artificial insect diet within two glass plates. This research revealed that the insect exhibits subsocial behavior and a paper has been published reporting these results, with additional research planned and ongoing. Our findings have important implications for understanding the basic biology of the coffee berry borer and provide novel avenues for its management.
Accomplishments
Review Publications
Vega, F.E., Simpkins, A., Rodriguez-Soto, M.M., Infante, F., Biedermann, P.H. 2017. Artificial diet sandwiches reveal sub-social behavior in the coffee berry borer Hypothenemus hampei (Coleoptera: Scolytinae). Journal of Applied Entomology. 141:470-476.
Infante, F., Ortiz, J.A., Solis-Montero, L., Mound, L.A., Vega, F.E. 2017. Thrips (Thysanoptera) of coffee flowers. Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 110:329-337.
