Amount and bagging of the bait food affect the captures of Scyphophorus acupunctatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) by pheromone-baited traps
Keywords:
Blue agave, agave tissue quantity, trapping,Abstract
Abstract
The weevil Scyphophorus acupunctatus Gyllenhal (Coleoptera: Cuculionidae) is the most important insect pest of wild and cultivated agaves worldwide.
This weevil causes direct damage while feeding and egg laying on host plants, and indirect damage due to the wounds on agave tissue that may serve as an entry for plant pathogens. Sampling and control of this weevil is complicated because of its cryptic habits. Thus, the use of synthetic aggregation pheromone-baited traps may be a useful tool for monitoring or control of this pest. The attraction of agave weevil to pheromone traps is synergized by the presence of host plant tissue. In this study, we evaluated the effect of the amount of fresh agave tissue and bagging of the plant tissue on the capture of S. acupunctatus with pheromone-baited traps in a blue agave crop. The highest captures of weevils were obtained in traps baited with the synthetic pheromone plus 400 g of agave tissue. Weevil capture rate was increased when the food bait was placed into a plastic bag or plastic container with holes as compared with unbagged food bait.
Resumen
El picudo Scyphophorus acupunctatus Gyllenhal (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) es uno de los problemas fitosanitarios de mayor importancia económica en agaves cultivados y silvestres en México. La importancia de esta plaga en agaves radica en que provoca daños directos por alimentación y/u oviposición, e indirectos ya que las heridas causadas por esta plaga pueden servir de entrada a microorganismos fitopatógenos del agave. Debido a que todo el ciclo biológico de esta plaga ocurre en el interior de la planta de agave, su muestreo es complicado y por ende resulta difícil monitorear su densidad poblacional en plantaciones de agave para tomar decisiones sobre su manejo; así, el uso de trampas con feromona de agregación sintética es una buena opción para su monitoreo. La respuesta de los picudos a la feromona de agregación sintética es sinergizada por la presencia de la planta hospedera. Por lo tanto es necesario determinar si la cantidad de tejido de agave y si el embolsado del cebo afecta la captura de los insectos. En la presente investigación se evaluaron diferentes cantidades de tejido fresco de agave y dos formas de embolsar el alimento para la captura de S. acupunctatus en agave tequilero. Se encontró que las mayores capturas de picudos se obtuvieron en las trampas cebadas con feromona de agregación sintética más 400 g de tejido de agave. El colocar el tejido de agave en bolsa o bote de plástico transparente con orificios incrementó el número de picudos capturados por trampa comparado con el cebo sin embolsar.
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