Habits and control of Aeneolamia spp.

The attack of the pest coincides with the beginning of the rains, since a perfect microclimate is created for the hatching of the eggs, after the nymphs appear they remain at the base of the poaceae sucking the stems, sprouts and superficial roots, the problem caused by the nymphs begins when they reach the vascular bundles of the root, causing the interruption of the passage of water and nutrients to the aerial parts of the plant and consequently a decrease in the, in addition to observing a chlorosis (loss of the green color of the plants, turning yellow).

Likewise, if the insect reaches its adult stage, they feed on the leaves and as mentioned above suck the sap and injects several enzymes and amino acids, causing a systemic poisoning called by some authors as candelilla or burning, this can be detected in the paddocks when we observe on the leaves of the pastures some white spots that lengthen parallel to the central rib of the leaves and that subsequently turn yellow as a burning effect that can quickly loss of biomass from the crop.

It can be said that all grass species can host the insect, but generally the most affected in the Southern area of Lake Maracaibo are those of the genus Brachiaria currently known as Urochloa, among which are the Urochloa arrecta (tanner grass), Urochloa mutica (grass paez straw), have also been observed in some Pennisetum (cutting grass) and Megathyrsus maximus (guinea grass).

On the other hand, this insect prevails in paddocks that have abundant forage material due to long periods of breaks, paddocks with susceptible species and that handle a low animal load since many times not all the forage material is consumed causing them to grow and accumulate generating ideal microclimates for the insect. It is necessary to reiterate that the candelilla will proliferate in spaces that have good humidity and shade since it does not tolerate the presence of sunlight, which is an important ecological factor for its control.

To avoid the attack of any pest, first of all you should try to prevent, to prevent it in the case of the candelilla it is recommended to make periodic tours in the paddocks when the rainy period begins, this with the intention of checking if the grass has whitish spots on its leaves since it is one of the visible symptoms when the candelilla begins to inoculate the toxic substances, in the same way, it should be checked if in the area near the ground near the stems there is the characteristic foam that indicates the presence of nymphs, or failing that, confirm if there is the presence of the insect in its adult stage.

Among the preventive methods or alternatives is the biological control, which is executed at the beginning of the rains with the application of entomopathogenic fungi specifically the Metarhizium anisoplae, which has been extensively tested in the cultivation of sugar cane in candelilla control. It is necessary to emphasize again that the application of these live agents is done with the intention of preventing the presence of the pest insect, if there is a high threshold of infestation the recommendation is to apply a synthetic product or cultural techniques that are detailed below:

Cultural Control: Taking into account that the Aeneolamiadoes not tolerate contact with sunlight, two types of management can be implemented:

Agronomic management: use tools such as scythes and rotary or failing that machete to cut the grassland to an average height of 10 cm, as this will allow the sun's rays to penetrate to the ground, which can influence the reduction of the nymphs that are at the bases of the stems.

Zootechnical management: in case of not having the aforementioned tools, or such management tends to be expensive due to labor prices, there is the possibility of using the herd present on the farm by increasing the animal load in the paddock, so that the animals consume the grass in depth in a short time with the intention of allowing the solar rays to penetrate to lower spaces near the ground as explained in the previous chapter.

Chemical Control: this type of control consists of the use of synthetic products that bring advantages and disadvantages to the grassland ecosystem, among the advantages is that they can control high insect populations in a short period, therefore its use is recommended when the threshold is high, among the products that can be used are those that contain as an active ingredient carbaryl or isoprocarb for the control of nymphs, as for adult control, products based on malathion or chlorpyrifos are recommended.

On the other hand, the disadvantages of implementing a chemical control is the alteration or imbalance of grassland ecosystems, since such substances could affect the functional biodiversity present, in addition to this, product residues may affect the quality of meat or dairy products if the safety standards and the recommended dose of the pesticide are not met.

Dear farmers, at the time of establishing a crop it is necessary to know which are the possible pest insects that could affect the yield of the same, this will allow you to establish appropriate control alternatives, that do not generate high expenses as in the candelilla that can be controlled with cultural methods, the aenolamia is an insect that has affinity for the poaceae family, for many years it has been the main pest of sugar cane, from there I migrate to the grass crops as they belong to the same family, in the Southern Area of Lake Maracaibo, specifically in the Colón Municipality of the State of Zulia, the most affected pasture crops are those of the genus Barchiaria, therefore it is a potential pest for the livestock sector since they are the most widespread grasslands in the area due to the humidity conditions present in the ecosystem.

The images were designed by @pinedaocl and @amestyj, some of the photographs were taken in different production units intended for livestock production. In future publications we will continue to share information about insect pests that affect pasture crops, as well as biological pest control and Integrated Pest Management in forage areas. You can also get publications on our alternative social networks Instagram @agro_tecnia .

Baloy, H. (2010). Alternatives for agroecological Pest Management in pastures. Memory of the XVI workshop of the Alberto Adriani Livestock Association. (pp. 13-20). Merida: ASODEGA.

Espinoza, F. (2013). Control and management of pests that attack grass foliage in Venezuela. In GIRARZ, tropical pasture and forage Management (P.135-142). Maracaibo: Universidad del Zulia.

Duran, F. (2014). biological pest Control . Colombia: Grupo Latino.