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Predatory capacity of the ants Solenopsis picea and Crematogaster crinosa on the coffee berry borer Hypothenemus hampei in the field with an attractant solution

Abstract:

The ants present in coffee plantations could be exerting a natural control of the Coffee Berry Borer (CBB), Hypothenemus hampei by preying on the populations of this pest, in fruits abandoned at the end of each harvest. The objective of this research was to evaluate the predatory capacity of two species of ants (Solenopis picea and Crematogaster crinosa) on the CBB with an attractant in field experiments. For each species, ten Experimental Units (EU) containing ten coffee beans infested with CBB were established. The infested grains were placed inside a plastic mesh and hung in trees with that had an ant nest. To attract the ants to the coffee berries, the berries were sprayed with an attractant solution. The same treatments were used with exclusion of ants as absolute control and infested berries without attractant as relative control. The predation rate of S. picea after 24 h was 78.3%, followed by C. crinosa with 34.3%. The attractant bait increased an average of 22% the attraction of ants and pre-dation of biological stages of CBB in each EU, compared to the non-sprayed treatment. The results show that the evaluated ant species reduced the residual populations of H. hampei; S. picea more than C. crinosa.