Evaluación de tres estrategias de control (químico, biológico y orgánico) contra Moniliophthora roreri en cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) variedad CCN-51 en la parroquia San Carlos provincia del Guayas.

Abstract

Moniliasis (Moniliophthora roreri) is a fungal disease that limits CCN-51 cocoa production in Ecuador, affecting cocoa pods and causing yield and product quality losses. This study aimed to determine the effect of the proposed management alternatives on moniliasis incidence and severity in cocoa crops, as well as to establish the costs and profitability of the different treatments. The experiment was conducted using a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four treatments: T0, untreated control; T1, biological control (Trichoderma spp.); T2, organic control (Fertiorgan); and T3, chemical control (Manzate), with five replications. The data obtained were subjected to an analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the means were compared using Tukey’s test at the 5% significance level. The results showed numerical differences in disease incidence and severity; however, no statistically significant differences were found among the treatments. At the end of the evaluation period, T1 showed the lowest disease incidence at 2.97%, followed by T3 at 4.45%, T2 at 9.78%, and T0 at 15.45%. Regarding yield, T2 reached 150.25 kg/ha, followed by T3 at 136.73 kg/ha, T0 at 128.29 kg/ha, and T1 at 115.70 kg/ha, with no statistically significant differences among treatments. From an economic perspective, T2 showed the highest net benefit ($260.50) and the highest benefit-cost ratio (0.41). Consequently, biological control showed favorable results for disease management, whereas organic control exhibited the best productive and economic performance among the treatments.