Soil arthropod pests associated with groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) in Golinga, Northern Ghana

Kyerematen R, Issifu I, Adu-Acheampong S. 2024. Soil arthropod pests associated with groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) in Golinga, Northern Ghana. Asian J Agric 8: 64-69. Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) production is one of the main livelihood activities in the northern part of Ghana consisting of the five main regions, Upper West, Upper East, Northern, Savannah and North East regions and the principal source of protein for mostly, the rural people. Notwithstanding that, not much research has been conducted on soil arthropod pests associated with the crop in the study area. To fill this gap, this research documented soil arthropod pest diversity of the crop and the damage they cause as baseline data for pest management decisions in the study area. Pitfall traps were set up on twenty-four (24) 5 m × 5 m plots close to harvest time after raising groundnut plants on them in a Randomized Complete Design. The traps were emptied on four occasions from each plot at two-week intervals. Results from the field trials revealed that beetles, termites, wireworms, false wireworms and millipedes were the dominant pest groups in the study area. The results further showed that these key pests caused nearly 90% damage to groundnut pods which goes a long way to impact negatively on the livelihood of farmers in the study area. The study recommended environmentally friendly pest control methods such as the use of botanical extracts and other biorational means in the study area. This was based on findings from our preliminary survey which revealed that the current pesticides that farmers use are largely ineffective in the study area.