The 2005 ESA Annual Meeting and Exhibition
December 15-18, 2005
Ft. Lauderdale, FL

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Friday, December 16, 2005 - 10:30 AM
0490

Evaluation of banana weevil (banana root borer) Cosmopolites sordidus (Germar) populations and damage in smallholder organic banana farms in Costa Rica

Ruth M. Dahlquist, dahl1805@uidaho.edu1, Nilsa A. Bosque-Pérez, nbosque@uidaho.edu1, and Luko Hilje, lhilje@catie.ac.cr2. (1) University of Idaho, Department of Plant, Soil and Entomological Sciences, P.O. Box 442339, Moscow, ID, (2) Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE), 7170, Turrialba, Cartago, Costa Rica

The banana weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus Germar) is an important pest in smallholder banana production systems. Organic banana farms within the Bribri and Cabécar indigenous territories were sampled for banana weevil population densities and damage levels, yield, and soil nutrients. Four farms were sampled in each of three communities. Banana weevil population densities were determined by mark-recapture methods with pheromone traps using the Peterson-Lincoln index. Percent damage was estimated from two cross-sections through the corm, 10 and 15 cm below the collar. Banana bunches were weighed at harvest, and damage was estimated the following day in harvested plants. Soil samples were collected at 0 to 15 cm depth at six random locations within a farm and analyzed for nutrient content. Pearson correlation analysis was used to identify pairwise relationships between all variables measured. Results from the studies will be presented.


Species 1: Coleoptera Curculionidae Cosmopolites sordidus (banana weevil, banana root borer)
Keywords: Pheromone traps, Mark-release-recapture

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