Eficacia de métodos de infestación de grana cochinilla (Dactylopius coccus Costa) en tuna (Opuntia ficus indica. L) en invernadero en la estación experimental Tunshi.

Abstract

The aim of this research was to determine the efficiency of 3 infestation methods for grana cochineal (Dactylopius coccus Costa) production on prickly pear (Opuntia ficus indica. L) as well as to determine the optimum number of mother females in the greenhouse at the Tunshi Experimental Station, a completely randomized experimental design (CRD) with a bifactorial arrangement (Factor A: Infestation methods and Factor B: Number of mother females per cladode) with levels of measurement was used and 90 experimental units were established, 9 treatments with 10 replications for each one. The evaluated methods for cladodeum infestation were: infested stalks; container method and tulle bag method. For the analysis and interpretation of results, analysis of variance was carried out, finding that the most effective infestation method for the production of cochineal grenadine at the Tunshi Experimental Station greenhouse was the infested stalks method, since it produced the best degree of infestation and the greatest abundance of cochineal grenadine in the four carried out evaluations, likewise in the greenhouse the optimum number of females per cladode for the production of cochineal grenadine was the T2 treatment (P. I + 20 females/cladode) of 20 females where a high number of grana cochineal was obtained at 20, 40, 60 and 80 days after infestation. It is recommended to study the effect of insect pests such as spiders that weave their webs where the male grana cochineal insects die.