Planococcus spp.: behavior and monitoring in conilon coffee crops

Abstract

The damage caused by the citrus mealybug attack, Planococcus spp., on Coffea canephora crops is becoming more and more frequent, and may cause losses close to 100%. Knowledge of aspects related to pest behavior and adoption of methods to monitor crop incidence are important tools for integrated pest management. Thus, the objective was to study the behavior of citrus mealybug along the phenological stages of C. canephora and to propose methods to monitor its occurrence in the crops. The study was carried out in an area consisting of adult C. canephora plants of the variety Diamante ES 8112. The study was carried out using four sampling methods: 1) soil and root sampling with a probe; 2) opening small trenches; 3) plagiotropic branches and 4) weed sampling. Evaluations were carried out monthly by checking and confirming the presence of citrus mealybug in the sampled regions. The information obtained was used to describe the behavior of citrus mealybug and to analyze the applicability of the monitoring methods studied. In the absence of the reproductive phase, citrus mealybug lodges in the root system of coffee and weeds, in the region close to the colon, moving to the aerial part of the plants (rosettes) at the beginning of the flowering of the crop. Probe sampling was not efficient, while opening small trenches is a difficult procedure and causes damage to the root system of the coffee tree. The sampling of plagiotropic branches and weeds allows the monitoring of citrus mealybug during all the phenological phases of C. canephora.