Location: Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research
Project Number: 2040-22430-027-004-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2020
End Date: Aug 31, 2024
Objective:
The main objectives of this year are built in previous years efforts and bio-climatic large data obtained from the Weather Stations (WS) installed over five prime coffee production in Puerto Rico. The objectives are: 1) Determine sources/reservoirs of CBB at the field using excluding nets; 2) Confirm the strata occupied by CBB during dispersion; 3) Determine main phytophagous nematodes impacting coffee plants in Puerto Rico and their impact on plant health; 4) Determine coffee leaf miner and coffee rust occurrence and impact on coffee phenology; 5) Train of undergraduate and graduate students in coffee production and IPM (Integrated Pest Management; 6) Work hands-on-hand with farmers and stakeholder in order to improve coffee production and IPM.
Approach:
Coffee berry borer is the main pest in coffee and disrupted the industry since its arrival in both PR and HI. Currently, we have four WS that are located in key collaborator farmers and one at UPRM-Adjuntas Agricultural Experimental Sub-Station. More than two years of continuum data were collected and two seasons were followed closely the dynamics of CBB, coffee phenology, and several other agronomic variables. The occurrence of diseases (mainly coffee leaf rust) and other pests (Nematodes and coffee leaf miner) were observed and likely are playing an important detrimental role in the coffee yields and impacting the coffee phenology and consequently CBB dynamics. Integrated pest management (IPM) system has been developed to control CBB following bioclimatic variables and will be expanded including other key pests and diseases, including coffee leaf rust, coffee leaf miner, and root-knot nematodes.
