Effect of pigeon pea intercropping or shading with leucaena plants on the occurrence of the coffee leaf miner and on its predation by wasps in organic coffee plantings

Efeito da consorciação com feijão-guandu ou sombreamento com plantas de leucena na ocorrência do Bicho-mineiro e sua predação por vespas em lavouras de café orgânico

ABSTRACT:

The infestation of coffee leaf miner and its predation by wasps were assessed in commercial organic coffee plantings shaded with leucaena or intercropped with pigeon pea. Plantings in northern Paraná were assessed every two weeks from June 2011 to December 2012. The percent of infested leaves, number of mines per leaf and the percent of predation by wasps (indicated by lacerations) were determined. Fewer coffee leaf miners and fewer mines per leaf were found in pigeon pea intercropped plantings (28.4% and 0.3, respectively) than in shaded plantings with leucaena (48.1% and 0.8, respectively). More predation by wasps was found in the shaded (27.2%) than in the intercropped (13.2%) plantings. Suggestions for new studies are presented along with suggestions for managing the leaf miner in coffee plantings.

Key words:
Leucoptera coffeella; coffee pests; organic farming; biological control