Abundance, richness and diversity of insects associated to cultivation of Marango (Moringa oleífera L.) in Managua, Nicaragua

Abstract

The marango (Moringa oleiífera L.) is a tree of the family Moringácea that grows in the tropics, it is a crop of great importance in both Latin América and also in Central América. In Nicaragua, during the past few years, has grown the interest in this crop majorly because of its nutritional potential in the supply of cattle, pigs and birds. However, the marango as any other crop is been affected by many problems, including some phytosanitary problems, causing these, a drastic reduction in the total returns of this crop. With the aim of contributing to the informatión for the management of insect pests in Marango, this study was conducted in order to identify the principal insects associated to marango, in additión, to know the populatión fluctuations of these insects in the different times of the year, to learn about the insect abundance, richness and their behavior. This work was carried out in the period from November 2012 to April 2013 in Managua, in two farms, Las Mercedes and the national center for research in agriculture, belongs to the National Institute for Agriculture Technology (INTA). In both farms, traps were placed for the capture of insects; these were 12 Pit fall trap and 12 traps of plastic gallon containers with water and molasses. The total number of traps placed per farm was 24. The sampling was done weekly and insects collected in the field were brought to the laboratory for identificatión. According to the results obtained in the study, the main orders of insects found associated to marango were Orthóptera, Mantodea, Hemíptera, Dermáptera, Homóptera, Thysanoptera, Coleóptera, Díptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Blattodea, Isóptera and Megaloptera. It was found that the greater insect abundance was found in the farm Las Mercedes, and the greater insect richness was found on the farm INTA. The diversity index was higher in the INTAb farm than in Las Mercedes farm with rates of 1.14 and 1.13 respectively. This is the first study in Nicaragua where it is identified and described the major insects associated to marango.