Browsing by Author "Abafita, Fuad"

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    Studies on the Diversity of Insect Pests in Wild and Cultivated Coffee Plantations in and Around Jimma, Southwest Ethiopia
    (Addis Ababa University, 2010-06) Abafita, Fuad; Getu, Emana (PhD)
    Insects are highly diversified in any ecosystem in which coffee plant can exist, but not well recorded under different coffee production systems in different seasons and different coffee tree shade status in Jimma southwest of Ethiopia where Coffeae arabica L. originated. Thus, this research was initiated, to study the coffee insects pest population incidence and occurrence in different seasons and shade status. Based on the shade status, the study area of cultivated and wild coffee were divided into three sites and from each site fifteen coffee plants were systematically selected for coffee plant leaf and berry insect damage analysis. Accordingly, fifteen insect families categorized under five orders were recorded and identified. Significant variations in level of coffee leaf insect pests incidence with in and between wild and cultivated were observed. The mean incidence recorded between and within wild coffee population were 24.92, 19.80 and 17.21 for wet, transition and dry seasons respectively. Within cultivated coffee, the mean incidence recorded was 31.2, 31.9 and 17.62 for wet transition and dry seasons, respectively. Frequently occurring insect pests of coffee leaves were blotch leaf miner, serpentine leaf miner and coffee leaf skeletonizer. Their leaf damage proportion on wild coffee was 53, 23 and 24% for leaf skeletonizer, serpentine leaf miner and blotch leaf miner, while in cultivated all are in equal proportion. The mean incidence of cultivated fallen berry ranged from 2‐3%, while the left over ranged 12‐20%. Similarly in wild fallen berry infestation by coffee berry borer ranged from 1‐2% while,7‐13% infestation was recorded on left over coffee. In general, there were differences in insect pests population incidence in wild coffee that might be due to the fact that the pests are shade loving. Difference between plantation and wild coffee is due to high human intervention in cultivated coffee which created unstable ecosystem that favor pest population to resurge and at the same time the activity might have affected the activity of the natural enemies.