Arthropod diversity of cocoa farms under two management systems in the Eastern and Central regions of Ghana
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Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer
Abstract
Diversity of insect communities can be
used as bioindicators for change in the environment
especially in farms under different management
systems. In line with that, we conducted a research
on insect species associated with cocoa under organic
and conventional management systems in the Eastern
and Central regions of Ghana. Insect collection was
done using Hand height visual count, Canopy, and
‘‘Knock down’’, pitfall, coloured bowl and fruit-baited
traps. A total of 13,742 individual insects belonging to
138 species from 63 families and 12 orders were
recorded in the study. Insect abundance and diversity
were generally higher in organic farms compared to
conventional farms with Oecophylla longinoda as the
most dominant species in both management systems
and especially more dominant in organic cocoa farms Our study revealed that most of the insect species
recorded were known cocoa pests although there was
high abundance of beneficial insects too. Some of the
pest species were Planococoides njalensis, Salh bergella singularis, Helopeltis spp and Pseudococus
spp, while some of the beneficial insects recorded were
Pheidole spp, Tegenaria spp, Camponotus spp, Cre matogaster spp. We can conclude that cocoa farms are
potential habitats for insect biodiversity conservation.
We recommend that management and/or agronomic
practices used in cocoa farms should be geared
towards protecting beneficial organisms for instance
pollinators and natural enemies by effectively sup pressing insect pest populations while enhancing good
seed production.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Central region, Cocoa, Conventional, Eastern region, Farm, Ghana, Insect, Organic