The Role of Planting Patterns to Control Thrips from Red Chili Pepper Plants

Chili plants are commodities that are vulnerable to various types of pests, one of the main pests is thrips. This study aims to determine the role of cropping patterns to control thrips from red chili plants, which was carried out in the Maros Regency, South Sulawesi. Planting patterns applied were: 1) chili using plastic mulch without the combination of other plants and the use of pesticides, 2) chili using plastic mulch combined with corn plants, 3) chili without plastic mulch combined with watermelon plants, 4) chili without plastic mulch combined with watermelon and corn plants, 5) chili without plastic mulch combined with corn plants and 6) chili using plastic mulch and pesticides (according to farmers' treatment). The samples of thrips taken from the chili and watermelon plants were randomly selected by placing a plastered plastic lid under the leaves and pat the plant until the thrips fall and are then counted and identified. The results showed that the highest population of thrips was found in the chili cropping pattern without plastic mulch combined with watermelon and corn plants with as many as 15 T. parvispinus and 32 T. palmi thrips. Meanwhile, the chili planting pattern using plastic mulch without the combination of other plants and with the use of pesticides had the lowest average amount of thrips population weighing at 5.1 T. parvispinus and 9.5 T. palmi. T. parvispinuspopulation was lower at the beginning of the observation (during the vegetative period) and tends to increase during the generative period of chili plants. T. palmi shows the opposite trend, its population tends to be high at the beginning of plant growth (vegetative phase) and decreases its population when the plant enters the generative period. Based on the data and facts found during the study, it is concluded that: 1). The chili cropping pattern without plastic mulch combined with watermelon and corn plants showed the highest average number of thrips population compared to the other cropping patterns.2). The abundance of populations of the two thrips species showed different fluctuations, where T. parvispinus populations tended to increase in line with plant development and T. palmi decreased according to plant development.3). In general, the application of intercropping cropping patterns has not yet appeared to play a role in reducing the abundance of thrips population but there is an opportunity to apply cropping patterns as a method to control thrips by selecting plants that are more suitable to be combined with chili plants.