EVALUATION OF TRAPS AND ATTRACTANTS FOR MONITORING THE MANGO STONE WEEVIL STERNOCHETUS MANGIFERAE (COLEOPTERA: CURCULIONIDAE) IN MANAGED ORCHARDS IN SOUTHERN GHANA

Anderson R.S.¹, Tantoh D.M.¹,Akotsen-Mensah C.^2*,Osei-Safo D.³ and Afreh-Nuamah K.^1,2

¹African Regional Postgraduate Programme in Insect Science, P.M.B L59, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana.

²Forest and Horticultural Crops Research Centre, School of Agriculture, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana, Kade, Ghana.

³Department of Chemistry, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana.

Accepted March 22, 2016

Field studies were conducted to identify the most effective traps and lures in attracting the mango stone weevil in managed mango orchards in southern Ghana. Two field experiments were conducted during two mango seasons of 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 respectively. In 2013-2014 season, four traps types namely black pyramid, yellow pyramid, Circle, and cone emergence traps were evaluated to determine the most effective trap for capturing mango stone weevil in a managed orchard in southern Ghana: The number of mango weevils captured during each sampling period was used as a measure of trap effectiveness. Among the four traps evaluated, the black pyramid and Circle traps performed significantly better compared with the cone and yellow pyramid traps. The highest number of mango stone weevils captured coincided with the period of mango plant bloom. In 2014-2015 cropping season, the black pyramid and Circle traps were selected for further evaluation in association with single and double combinations of benzaldehyde (BZ) and essential oil (EO) obtained from the mango blossom. The addition of the attractants did not significantly improve trap captured even though the black pyramid trap captured about 6-fold compared to the Circle trap. The release rate (2.55mg/hour and 1.80mg/hour) of the BZ was significantly higher than the essential oils (2.18mg/hour and 1.48mg/hour) in both the laboratory and mango orchard.

Key words: Sternochetus mangiferae, Mango Stone weevil, Benzaldehyde, Essential oils..

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