Baits for monitoring weevils in banana plantation of variety cv. Nanicão

Abstract

Cosmopolites sordidus (Germar, 1824) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and Metamasius hemipterus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) are the main beetles associated with banana plants in Brazil. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of attractive traps for monitoring these beetles, from May to September 2012 (hot season) and October 2012 to April 2013 (rainy season), in the Amazon biome conditions. The experiment was installed in commercial banana plantations that produce the banana variety cv. Nanicão, divided into three plots of 0.5 hectare each, assessing the following treatments: 1) synthetic aggregation pheromone for the species C. sordidus (control); 2) molasses sugarcane and; 3) sugarcane oarlock. It was found that the three baits showed similar behavior in the hot and rainy season, with the highest catch of C. sordidus in the rainy season. The molasses sugarcane and sugarcane oarlock did not show efficiency in the capture of C. sordidus. Attractive bait sugarcane oarlock, in pitfall trap, proved efficient for both monitoring and mass collect M. hemipterus in banana plantations.

Keywords

• attractiveness, banana, sampling methods, banana weevil