Relato da Incidência da Cochonilha-do-Carmim (Dactylopius Opuntiae) em dois Gêneros de Cactáceas

The forage palm is the main source of food for cattle, goats and sheep in the long periods of drought in the semi-arid northeast. However, this food source is seriously threatened by a carminic acid producing insect, Cochineal Scale, Dactylopius opuntiae. This study aimed to evaluate the behavior of this cochineal in relation to cross infestation, in three species of cactaceous, belonging to two genera (Opuntia ficus indica palm heart, Opuntia dillenii palm heart and Tacinga inamoena gogoia or quipá), The research was conducted at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Paraíba IFPB / Campus Picuí. The experiment was installed in a mobile structure made of PVC tubes and 50% shading, with four treatments and five repetitions: Treatment 1: Noninfected Palm + infected Gogoia, Treatment 2: Infected Palm + non-infected Gogoia, Treatment 3: Non-infected Palmatory + infected Gogoia and Treatment 4: Non-infected Palmatory + infected Palm. The infected and non-infected rackets were arranged side by side in rectangular vessels. The cochineal cochineal present in T. inamoena infested the species O. ficus indica from 14 days until the end, unrelated preference for O. dillenii. Even attacking the gogoia, the scales of the forage palm were not present in this species in some evaluations. However, the insect present in the forage palm infested the palm from the second evaluation (14 days) until the end of the observations. However, it was found that there was inverse contamination, which demonstrates a certain food preference of the insect for the two genera of cactaceous studied.