Evaluación de alternativas de control de Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say) en granos de Phaseolus vulgaris var. Canario en postcosecha

Abstract

The bean is one of the crops of great importance in Ecuador since it constitutes an economic income for farmers. However, in the storage stage it is attacked by various insects, representing significant losses for farmers, with Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say) being the main pest during storage of beans. The control method is traditionally based on the application of chemical products such as aluminum phosphide, which is highly toxic to human health. Therefore, the research experimented with plant extracts as an alternative to control the pest. The investigation consisted of six treatments, each treatment with 5 repetitions; the repetitions were made up of 5 containers and each container had 20 weevil adults in 500 grams of Canario variety bean seed, the treatments consisted of hot extracts of black pepper (Piper nigrum), Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus Labill), Neem (Azadirachta indica A) and Altamisa (Ambrosia arborescens Miller), a chemical product (aluminum phosphide) and control treatment, infested seed was used for the breeding stock, and implemented in the jars with each treatment, data collection was every 10 days by a period of 90 days, the variables analyzed were percentage of damaged grains, number of adults and costs per treatment. The extract of mugwort and black pepper showed the best results by not presenting any live weevil after 30 days, in the same way they presented the lowest percentage of damage to the seeds (1.43% mugwort and 1.64% black pepper)., as opposed to variable costs since the most feasible treatment is black pepper ($4.9). Therefore, the extract of mugwort and black pepper proved to be efficient in the control of Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say), as well as being economical and sustainable.