Chemical control of symphylids on pineapples
The symphylids, Scutigerella spp. and Hanseniella spp. are common soil pests in Costa Rican pineapples.
These arthropods feed on plant roots causing extensive crop damage which reduces water and nutrient uptake ending in yield reduction.
Often, this problem is misdiagnosed since this pest may not be familiar to farmers and technicians.
Two experiments in a randomized complete block design were conducted to determine the effective Mocap® 72EC volume for symphylid control.
The treatments were: 0, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 13.6 L ha‑1 in 3,200 L of water with five replications.
The pre-treatment number of symphylids per 5 plants was similar in experimental plots in both experiments, varying from 10.4 to 22.8 in Exp.
I (P=0.4978) and from 17.4 to 29.8 in Exp.
II (P=0.0855). In both experiments, at 15 and 30 days after the treatment symphylid numbers decreased linearly (P<0.0001) as the Mocap® 72EC volume increased.
The average symphylid reduction was 0.52 individuals at 15 days and 0.55 at 30 days for every litre increase in product in Exp.
I. Reductions were 0.47 and 0.75 for the two periods in Exp.
II. Biological efficacy among treatments varied from 67.5 to 100% (P=0.1073) in Exp.
I and from 83 to 100% (P=0.5263) in Exp.
II. Based on biological efficacy the recommended volume was 8 to 10 L ha‑1 of Mocap® 72EC.
Araya, M. (2019). Chemical control of symphylids on pineapples. Acta Hortic. 1239, 167-172
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2019.1239.20
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2019.1239.20
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2019.1239.20
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2019.1239.20
chemical control, pineapples, symphylids
English