Preference of hypothenemus hampei for coffee fruits according to state of maturation and infestation

Abstract

The coffee berry borer Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari) remains the most important coffee pest worldwide. Coffee fruits emit a mixture of volatiles, which function as insect attractants. Y-tube olfactometry tests allowed us to determine insect response to coffee fruits in different developmental stages: green, underripe, mature-ripe and overripe. The ripe fruits showed the highest levels of insect attraction, up to 30% more than the other stages. Additionally, insect attraction to fruits previously infested with H. hampei for 3 and 24 h vs. noninfested fruits was tested. The infested and noninfested ripe fruits showed the same levels of attraction. The overripe and green fruits infested for 3 h showed 12% greater insect attraction. The green fruits infested for 24 h showed 20% more attraction. When evaluating insect attraction to the methanol:ethanol alcohol mixture vs. the fruits, the alcohols showed greater insect attraction than all developmental stages except the ripe fruits. The understanding of H. hampei behavioral characteristics and preferences for coffee fruits in different developmental and infestation stages will allow the design of better insect control strategies.

Keywords:

• CBB
• interaction
• green
• underripe
• ripe and overripe
• alcohols

Author contributions

Carmenza E. Góngora conceived the research. Claudia P. Martinez conducted the experiments. Paula A. Figueroa-Varela contributed material and result discussion. Rubén Medina-Rivera analyzed data and conducted statistical analyses. Carmenza E. Góngora and Claudia P. Martinez wrote the manuscript. Carmenza E. Góngora secured funding. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data used for this work are available in a public repository OSF in this link https://mfr.osf.io/render?url=https%3A//osf.io/7vgsj/download

Additional information

Funding

This study was part of Project ENT104010 funded by Cenicafe and Federacafe (Colombian national federation of coffee growers) as well as Universidad EAFIT with project number 953-000018. Additionally, the authors thank the insect breeding unit Biocafé for providing CBBs, engineer Jhon Felix Trejos of the Experimental Station Naranjal for support during coffee field collection, Diana M Giraldo and Gloria P Naranjo for performing part of the olfatometry assays, and Dr. Aristofeles Ortiz for helping to set up the olfactometer. Project number 953-000018 University EAFIT.