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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Southern Insect Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #382271
Research Project: Insect Control and Resistance Management in Corn, Cotton, Sorghum, Soybean, and Sweet Potato, and Alternative Approaches to Tarnished Plant Bug Control in the Southern United States

Location: Southern Insect Management Research

Title: Biological responses of Hpothenemus hampei (Coleoptera: curculionidae) on the Cenibroca artificial diet at different moisture content levels and relative humidities

Author
item Portilla, Maribel
item STREETT, DOUG - Retired ARS Employee

Submitted to: Florida Entomologist
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/25/2021
Publication Date: 6/29/2022
Citation: Portilla, M., Streett, D. 2022. Biological responses of Hpothenemus hampei (Coleoptera: curculionidae) on the Cenibroca artificial diet at different moisture content levels and relative humidities. Florida Entomologist. 105(2):137-144. https://doi.org/10.1653/024.105.0206.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1653/024.105.0206

Interpretive Summary: The coffee berry borer (CBB) is a major insect pest of coffee throughout the world. It is native to Africa and has spread to the Middle East, Asia, as well as Central, South, and North America. Coffee berry borer has caused substantial production losses where it is endemic and where it has been introduced. Losses are essentially due to berry weight loss on harvesting, but also to the shedding of small borer-damaged fruits. In addition to these two types of losses, there are those related to the cost for sorting and depreciation of the marketable products. Currently, the CBB is a problem for U.S. coffee growers (Puerto Rico and Hawaii) and adoption of an IPM program is crucial. The current study was designed to identify the optimal combination of RH and MCL for CBB mass-production using the Cenibroca artificial diet. Effects of these abiotic factors on CBB preoviposition period, oviposition behavior, production and reproductive potential were studied to more efficiently mass-rear CBB in an effort to produce large numbers of CBB parasitoids.

Technical Abstract: The effects of relative humidity (RH) and diet moisture content level (MCL) were determined for the coffee berry borer (CBB), Hypothenemus hampei Ferrari (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) reared on an artificial diet at a constant temperature of 25° C. Three relative humidities (RH) (65%, 75% and 85%) and at three diet moisture content levels (MCLs) (50%, 60% and 70%) were evaluated. Insects were reared on a Cenibroca artificial diet that was used to rear CBB for successive generations for more than five years. Biological aspects in each treatment were estimated by determining the preoviposition period, oviposition and feeding behavior, total progeny production, and reproductive potential. The highest fecundity was obtained using diets containing 50% MCL at 85% RH and diets with a 60% MCL and 75% RH. These diets produced 67.6 ± 4.4 (mean ± SE) and 63.3 ± 4.0 (mean ± SE) individuals per CBB female per diet pellet, respectively, 50 days after infestation. The highest reproductive rate (R0) (53.05 ± 2.72, 48.85 ± 2.39 females / female) and the greatest intrinsic rate of increase (rm) (0.071, 0.069) for CBB were also obtained using these two treatments, respectively. The lowest (0.026) and (14.73) value were found for CBB reared on a diet with a 70% MCL at 85% RH. The results obtained in this study were used to improve the CBB mass rearing system for large-scale production of African parasitoids (Portilla and Streett 2008).