Diversidad de insectos benéficos asociados a Morinda citrifolia L.

Abstract

The crop of Morinda citrifolia L. (noni) is actually fomented in Urban Agriculture, besides other arboreal species associated to vegetables, grains and others, in order to promote biodiversity conservation, also including all benefical insect species which regulate pest populations that affect plants. A research was carried out in the Basic Unit of Cooperative Production Organopónico Vivero Alamar, located in the east of Havana, to describe taxonomic diversity and relative abundance of benefical insects associate to this plant. The period of evaluation was from September 2003 to March 2004. Foliage of M. citrifolia plants were sampled weekly and all detected insects were counted in situ. The species were identified in laboratory and the diversity was estimated with ecological indexes. Five orders, seven families, ten genera and seven species of benefical insects were detected, which is considered a high diversity of species, as well as a tendency to the uniformity of populations, and in contrast, a low dominance. Cycloneda sanguinea limbifer (Casey) and Apis mellifera L. presented a bigger relative abundance in the months of September, October and November, reaching values of 22.4, 34.8 and 31.6 individuals/plants for the first, and 8.2, 10 and 14 for the second, these preliminary results indicate the potential of this plant for the conservation of benefical insects population.