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Blemish-free bananas are a modern life staple. This chapter reviews management trends of bunch pests of bananas for export which cause cosmetic damage or trigger quarantine prohibitions in the context of changing regulatory and market requirements. The authors review six major insect pests of the banana bunch with a particular focus on understanding their life cycle as a basis for designing more ecologically-based pest management – red rust and flower thrips, aphids, scale insects, mealybugs and Colaspis beetles. Sections include monitoring pests and beneficial organisms, creating an environment less favourable for pests and more favourable for beneficial organisms, and direct control with insecticides and augmentation of beneficial organisms. The authors propose 5 cornerstone practices to ensure blemish-free bananas with a low level of rejects and reduced impact on human health and the environment – early bagging with bags containing non-toxic repellents, field sanitation and measures to promote conservation biological control - minimal pesticide use and increased hedge and cover plant diversity.
- 1 Introduction: bananas attractive to consumers but not insect pests
- 2 Trends in bunch pest management
- 3 Major insect pests of the bunch
- 4 Ecologically based pest management
- 5 Monitoring populations of insect pests and beneficial organisms
- 6 Creating a less favourable environment for pests: bagging and other practices
- 7 Creating a more favourable environment for beneficial organisms
- 8 Improving plant resistance
- 9 Direct insect pest control using augmentation of beneficials and insecticides
- 10 Integrating bunch pest management with other management practices
- 11 Conclusion: Scientific and practical frontiers in ecological bunch pest management
- 12 Where to look for further information
- 13 References