Reducing Cosmopolites sordidus populations and damage using traps baited with pheromone and plantain corm

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The banana weevil Cosmopolites sordidus is an important pest in plantain and banana crops throughout the world. The objective was to evaluate a mass trapping system based on traps baited with synthetic pheromone (sordidin) + plantain corm tissue to reduce C. sordidus populations and damage in the Centro-Chontalpa region of Tabasco state, Mexico. The experiment was carried out on plots of about two to three hectares of Horn plantain Musa AAB infested by C. sordidus. Treatments were four traps ha −1 , eight traps ha −1 and a control (without traps). Population density and damage in corms of small plants (suckers) were reduced after six months of mass trapping, while damage in corms of mature plants (freshly harvested) only decreased signicantly after 13 months of trapping. By doubling the number of traps, the reduction in the C. sordidus population and damage was not signicant. The use of four traps ha −1 baited with synthetic pheromone + plantain corm is a technically feasible strategy that provides at least partial control of this pest under local Horn plantain production conditions.