Diversity and abundance of insect pests of corn (Zea mays Poaceae) grown in a rural environment in the city of MBahiakro (East Central Cte dIvoire)

Abstract

Knowledge of the distribution of insect pests of corn at different stages of the plant is essential for the development of appropriate control strategies. This work was carried out in a rural environment in M'Bahiakro, in East Central Côte d'Ivoire. The study of dynamics, biodiversity and insect abundance on each plot was carried out. For this purpose, six plots, of which two were in the forest zone and four in the savanna zone, were visited from September 2012 to January 2014. The analysis of results showed that the flowering stage had the largest number of insect populations and the most diverse ones (1665 insects on average distributed over 27 families). The distribution of insect pest populations appears to be influenced by environmental characteristics. In the savanna, diversity and abundance indices of insect pests appeared to be higher than those in the forest (Shannon diversity index H'=2.57 in the savannah against H'=2.15 in the forest; Abundance index A'=200 in the savannah against A'=130 in the forest).