Attacks and damage by termites in cocoa farms in the Azaguié zone (South-Côte d’Ivoire)

• Published in: International journal of tropical insect science Vol. 42; no. 4; pp. 3065 - 3071
• Main Authors: KISSI, Thérèse Appoh Perrine, AKPESSE, Akpa Alexandre Moïse, COULIBALY, Tenon, KOUA, Kouakou Hervé, KOUASSI, Kouassi Philippe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cocoa; Damage; Ecosystem services; Entomology; Farms; Life Sciences; Nasutitermitinae; Original Research Article; Termites; Trees; Age range; South-Côte d’Ivoire; Termite impact; Cocoa farming
• ISSN: 1742-7592; 1742-7584; 1742-7592
• DOI: 10.1007/s42690-022-00843-1

Termites, by virtue of their bioecology, provide many ecosystem services to humans. However, they can turn out to be real plagues in agriculture. This study, carried out in the cocoa farms in Azaguié in the south of Côte d’Ivoire, aimed at assessing the impact of termites on cocoa plants. Three planting age classes were defined: young plot of 0 to 5 years (PC1), production plot of 6 to 10 years (PC2) and old plot of over 30 years (PC3). In each defined class, 3 elementary plots (51 m X 51 m) of 340 cocoa plants were delimited for sampling. The termites were collected from the sampled plants and a rating scale was defined according to the observed damage. A total of 14 species of termites were identified and are responsible for the damage observed on cocoa trees. This damage ranges from simple earthy veneers to plant death. The young plots PC1 and in production PC2 recorded the lowest rates with respectively 16.57% ± 3.4 and 13.82% ± 6.62 of termite attacks. However, all of this damage was minor. Older PC3 plots provide the highest attack rates with infestation rates of 91.57% ± 2.45. The major damage observed is significant on trees of this age class and is mainly due to the Nasutitermitinae subfamily. More than 5% of the sampled cocoa trees of the PC3 class died under the action of termites.