Diversidade de insetos visitantes florais associados à plantios de tomate em dois sistemas de cultivo: convencional e alternativo

Abstract

The tomato crop is fragile, many agrochemicals are used to reduce production losses. This vegetable has great economic and nutritional value. In Brazil, Paraná is ranked fifth in terms of productivity. This fruit is consumed both in natura and industrialized. Due to its sensitivity to pests and diseases is one of the cultures where the highest levels of agrochemical residues are detected. Among the insects found in the tomato crop are the floral visitors due to their participation in the tomato reproduction and also the insects considered as pests. In this experiment two forms of planting were used, the conventional one that uses pesticides and the alternative that uses non - synthetic products for the control of pests, seeking to know the entomofauna of floral visitors associated with tomato culture with different methods for pest control. Two plots with 60 seedlings were established for each of the methods separated by a distance of 30 meters. Each lot was inspected for 15 minutes every hour, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., during the flowering period, twice a week from November to December 2016. The insects collected were separated by date and time, pinpricks and identified at least up to the family level. A total of 219 specimens of 51 species were collected. Coleoptera was the most abundant in both crops and the highest richness was in the order Hemiptera. Diabrotica speciosa was the most abundant, frequent and dominant species in both crops. Although bees are considered important floral visitors in tomato culture, in this study, richness and abundance were low in both methods.