Exclusion nets are increasingly being used to protect a variety of agricultural crops from insect pests as a sustainable alternative to chemical controls. We examined the efficacy of exclusion nets in controlling the world’s most damaging insect pest of coffee, Hypothenemus hampei (coffee berry borer), on two small-scale coffee farms on Hawai’i Island. We recorded microclimate data, fruit infestation, population per fruit, sex ratio, mortality by Beauveria bassiana, coffee yield and quality in four paired exclusion and control (un-netted) plots on both farms. Mean and maximum daily temperature and relative humidity were similar between treatments, while mean and maximum daily solar radiation was reduced by ~50% in exclusion plots. Green and ripe fruit from exclusion plots had significantly lower infestation compared to un-netted control plots at both farms. We observed no significant difference between exclusion and control plots in the number of CBB per fruit or the female:male sex ratio. CBB mortality was significantly higher in control relative to exclusion plots in one of the two farms. Ripe fruits harvested from exclusion plots were on average significantly heavier and wider than those from control plots; however, there was no significant difference in the average yield per tree between treatments. Lastly, coffee quality was not significantly different between control and exclusion plots. Our results suggest that with complete sanitation prior to net installation in an environment where CBB is actively circulating, exclusion netting can successfully control CBB on small-scale coffee farms without reducing coffee yield or quality, and has the potential to lower production and labor costs by eliminating the need to spray pesticides.

中文翻译：

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咖啡浆果B（Hypothenemus Hampei）管理的排斥网评估。

排斥网正越来越多地用于保护多种农作物免受虫害的侵害，以此作为化学控制的可持续替代方法。我们检查了排除网在夏威夷岛上两个小型咖啡农场中控制世界上最具破坏性的咖啡虫（Hypothenemus hampei）的功效。我们记录了小气候数据，水果侵染，每个水果的种群，性别比，球孢白僵菌的死亡率，两个农场的四个成对排除和对照（未联网）地块的咖啡产量和质量。处理之间的平均和最高每日温度和相对湿度相似，而在排除图中，平均和最高每日太阳辐射减少了约50％。与两个农场的非网状对照样地相比，排除样地的绿色和成熟果实的侵扰显着降低。我们观察到在每个水果的CBB数量或雌雄比例上，对照图和对照图之间没有显着差异。相对于两个农场之一的排除地块，对照中的CBB死亡率要高得多。平均而言，从排除地块收获的成熟果实比对照地块的果实重且宽得多。但是，处理之间每棵树的平均产量没有显着差异。最后，对照样和排除样之间的咖啡质量没有显着差异。我们的结果表明，在CBB活跃循环的环境中安装净水之前要进行彻底的卫生处理，排他网可以成功控制小型咖啡农场中的CBB而不会降低咖啡产量或质量，并且有可能降低生产成本和人工成本。无需喷洒农药。