ImpactU Versión 3.11.2 Última actualización: Interfaz de Usuario: 16/10/2025 Base de Datos: 29/08/2025 Hecho en Colombia
IPM Program to Control Coffee Berry Borer Hypothenemus hampei, with Emphasis on Highly Pathogenic Mixed Strains of Beauveria bassiana, to Overcome Insecticide Resistance in Colombia
IntroductionCoffee is cultivated by some 20 millions farmers in more than 50 countries in Africa, Asia and America, and generates an industry that surpasses USD 70 billion annually.Coffee cultivars are planted in a very wide range of ecological and social conditions and may be grown using few culture practices where almost no changes occur to the natural environment or by means of mechanization, irrigation, fertilization and pest control with chemical insecticides which often leads to a complete destruction of the surrounding vegetation and changes in the ecosystem.Small farmers are the predominant coffee growers in all countries and technology in most cases is not readily available to them.This coffee world situation results in a great variety of sanitary problems, which varies according to the country even in similar ecological regions.All agricultural production systems have to deal with plant protection problems and coffee is no exception.Since the early 20th century, coffee production suffers from numerous insect pests, being the coffee berry borer, the white stem borer, leaf miners and mealybugs, the most serious examples since they can cause coffee farmers to lose up to 20% of a crop and reduce the coffee value by 30 to 40%.These coffee pests could be kept below economic threshold levels by adopting integrated management strategies such as anticipation and continuous monitoring of pest outbreaks, maintenance of optimum shade, pruning of coffee bushes, good harvesting and processing of the berries, conservation and augmentation of indigenous natural enemies, introduction of exotic natural enemies and timely use of need based chemical or bio insecticides.This chapter deals with the most important insect pest affecting coffee plantations in all coffee producing countries, the Coffee Berry Borer, Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), a brief description of an integrated pest management program that can help reducing the insect populations, the appearance of resistant insects in the field after spraying inadequately endosulfan for several years and a description of a novel strategy to select a highly pathogenic mixed strains of fungi in order to overcome this resistance and maintain infestation in the field under threshold levels.www.intechopen.