Studies of mealybug wilt of pineapple in the central and eastern regions of Ghana

Abstract

A study of the mealybug wilt disease of pineapple (MWP) in the Central and Eastern regions of Ghana was conducted. The objective was to study the features of the mealybug species responsible for the MWP to characterize the mealybugs to facilitate their recognition and management in pineapple production in Ghana. The study was divided into a questionnaire survey, field disease assessment, identification of species of mealybug causing the MWP together with their symbiont ants, determined the effect of the MWP on the photosynthetic ability of the pineapple plants during the attack by the virus and evaluated alternative management strategies for minimizing incidences of virus spread and mealybug wilt of pineapple. Farmers did not harvest suckers from infected mother plants and did not harvest from within I m2 perimeter of an infected plant and those farmers had a high level of knowledge of the MWP on their farms. Many of the farms surveyed from the two regions from Ghana had MWP incidence of 10-20%, indicating that the disease seriously threatens pineapple production in the regions. The patterns ofspread or distribution ofthe MWP across the various districts surveyed in the Central and Eastern regions of Ghana is more of clustering than random or even distribution on the field. Propagation with crowns gave a lower incidence of the MWP disease and a lower population of ants and mealybugs compared to the slips and the suckers. The feeding by the mealybugs and attack by the PMWaV in the MWP are responsible for the loss of the chlorophyll in the leaves that eventually lead to wilting of the plants. White vinegar and neem oil worked best in reducing the incidence and severity of the MWP and the mealybug and ant populations and could be used alternately with insecticides.