Description

Abstract: Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) plays an important role both as a food crop and as a cash crop in Ghana. However, soil arthropod pests are important constraints to production of the crop. A survey was, therefore, conducted in farmers’ fields in Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Eastern and Volta regions of Ghana in 1999 and 2001 to (i) identify soil arthropods of peanut and (ii) to determine damage caused by the pests to pods and seeds of the crop. The local names of the cutivars observed were ‘Konkoma’, ‘Kpedevi’ (‘Obaatan’), ‘Kpanlogo’, ‘Klukluklui’, ‘Cameroun’, ‘Goroga’ (‘Akukorku’), ‘Kowoka’, ‘China’, ‘Afromo’, ‘Broni’ and ‘Bremawuo’. Six different cultivars were grown in the Volta, four each in the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo and two in the Eastern regions. Only ‘Konkoma’ was cultivated in all the regions. The soil arthropod pests observed per 15 cm x 15 cm x 15 cm volume of soil in both 1999 and 2001 across the regions were white grubs, millipedes, symphilids, termites, earwigs, wireworms, red ants and mealybugs. The predominant ones were termites. The mean population of the termites was least in the Volta region (2.4-5.9) and high but not significantly different in the other three regions (4.4-10.9). The predatory arthropods were centipedes and black ants, the mean number of the black ants (1.6-5.8) being significantly greater than that of the centipedes (0.2-1.0) in all the locations. In either 1999 or 2001, the mean percent damage caused by the arthropods to the pods (1.4- 3.9) or seeds (0.0-6.7) per hill of the cultivars across the regions was very low and not significantly different.