Assessment of Insect Diversity in a Pineapple (Ananas Comosus, Merril, 1917) Plantation At Purok 5, Taisan, Basud, Camarines Norte

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Pineapples are one of the most important fruit crops in Camarines Norte. The growth and development of the said cash crop, however, are currently hampered by infestations of various insect pests. Farmers are having a difficult time killing these pests due to inaccurate identification. Many researchers have stated that such situations could affect pest and beneficial insect diversity, leading to severe pineapple losses in the long run. Hence, this led to the assessment of insect diversity in a Formosa pineapple plantation at Purok 5, Taisan, Basud, Camarines Norte. This research specifically focused on the identification and classification of insect families, determining their overall dominance and diversity, and classifying whether they are beneficial insects or insect pests in the study site.

METHODS

Two types of insect traps were used in the study: the pitfall traps for ground-dwelling insects and the Malaise traps for flying insects. 56 pitfall and 13 Malaise traps were randomly placed in the 3,445 square meters of the plantation.

RESULTS

Results showed that in the collection of 312 insects, there is a total of 13 insect families and six insect orders on the study site. The most dominant (66%) is family Formicidae (Ants). in addition, there were 215 (69%) beneficial insects collected, while there were 97 (21%) insect pests.

DISCUSSIONS

Beneficial insects are more dominant than insect pests within the area. There is a slightly high diversity (Simpson's Diversity Index (0.52) > Simpson's Dominance Index (0.48)) of insects, which would mean that there are fewer pest problems to be dealt with by the owners in the plantation. Owners should improvise their integrated pest management (IPM) strategies to control the populations of the identified insect pest families in the area. At the same time, farmers, along with the Department of Agriculture (DA) researchers, should create farming strategies that would minimize harm to the beneficial insect family populations, using them to increase the yield of pineapples within Camarines Norte.