Integrated weed management strategies are crucial to reduce crop production costs. The objective was to compare weed control techniques according to their efficiency and profitability in rice cultivation during the rainy and dry seasons. It was carried out under the quasi-experimental modality with the Student's t-test under a descriptive research type. Structured questionnaires were administered to 70 rice farmers in the area. Weeds were identified in areas every 10 m² within the rice crop, 10 and 15 days after sowing. The efficiency (E) of weed management in rice crops was calculated by applying the formula % efficiency=1 MP/Mt*100. The results showed that manual weeding has a monthly frequency, being used both in the rainy season (40 %) and in the dry season (44 %). The frequency of herbicide application was adjusted to the crop stage in the rainy season (39 %) and in the dry season (46 %). The efficiency (E) using the mechanical method was below one month during the rainy and dry seasons, registering 43%. Manual weeding showed an E of 49 % in the rainy season and 42 % in the dry season for up to 30 days. The combination of herbicides: Metsulfuron-methyl + Quinclorac; pyrazosulfuron-ethyl + Quinclorac, exhibited an E greater than 80 %, for more than 30 days in both seasons. The highest profitability was in the rainy season, thus presenting mechanized control USD 0.09 in rainfall and USD 0.04 in drought, chemical control USD 0.09 in rainfall and USD 0.07 in drought, and manual weeding USD 0.10 in rainfall and USD 0.06 in drought, for every dollar spent during the cultivation of rice. Keywords: weed control, control effectiveness, integrated weed management, profitability, economic valuation.

Cosmopolites sordidus conocido como picudo negro, es un insecto plaga de importancia económica para los cultivos de musáceas como banano y plátano, teniendo como resultado por su daño perdidas en producción. Entre unas de las alternativas para el manejo del picudo negro se encuentran el control biológico mediante el uso de entomopatógenos que regulen las poblaciones del insecto en las plantaciones de musáceas. El objetivo de la investigación fue determinar la acción de los hongos entomopatogenos Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae y Verticillium lecanii en el control del picudo negro del banano C. sordidus bajo condiciones controladas de laboratorio. Se implementó un diseño completamente al azar con 8 tratamientos con la aplicación de los entomopatógenos de forma individual y en combinaciones, al igual que un tratamiento testigo. Los resultados mostraron que el tratamiento con la combinación de B. bassiana + M. anisopliae mostró el mejor control sobre el insecto plaga con un 100% en la mortalidad a los 10 días de la inoculación, seguido de B. bassiana con 88% y un 24% en el control con M. anisopliae, mientras que para el tratamiento con el hongo V. lecanii se alcanzó un 32% en el control del picudo negro. Los entomopatógenos son una alternativa para el manejo del insecto plaga de musáceas C. sordidus.

This study assessed, in two coastal locations of Ecuador (Cerecita, Guayas; Bajada de Chanduy, Santa Elena), cadmium (Cd) occurrence in cacao cultivated soils, its transfer to plant tissues (leaves and cotyledon/beans), and its implications for producers’ economic sustainability. Twelve cacao-producing sites in Cerecita and eleven in Bajada de Chanduy were georeferenced, and thematic GIS maps were generated to identify potential Cd hotspots. Sampling comprised topsoil (0–10 cm), leaves (fourth fully expanded leaf), and dried/fermented beans, followed by laboratory Cd quantification. In addition, producer surveys were conducted to characterize productive and economic structure, the economic sustainability index (IK) was calculated using Sarandón’s methodology, and interviews with collectors and agri-export companies were performed. Soil Cd levels were comparable between locations (0.24–1.55 mg kg⁻¹), whereas higher concentrations were detected in cotyledons/beans (0.53–5.01 mg kg⁻¹) and leaves (1.13–11.07 mg kg⁻¹), following the pattern leaves > cotyledon > soil. From an economic perspective, all farms exhibited IK < 2, with a marked territorial gap (≈1.6 in Cerecita vs. ≈0.5 in Chanduy). Cadmium in cocoa beans poses a long-term risk to marketing; in addition, total cadmium in the soil did not consistently predict cadmium in the cotyledons, and adverse impacts are amplified in territories with limited economic capacity to respond.

La agroforestería se consolida como un sistema de producción sostenible que promueve el secuestro de carbono y el ciclaje eficiente de nutrientes, destacándose entre sus beneficios ecológicos el incremento de la diversidad vegetal, factor clave para el mantenimiento de la salud de los ecosistemas. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo evaluar la diversidad florística en plantaciones de Tectona grandis (teca) con edades comprendidas entre 2 y 18 años, durante la época lluviosa, en los cantones de Pichincha, Palenque y Balzar (Ecuador). Para ello, se aplicaron los índices de similitud de Jaccard, así como los índices de diversidad de Shannon-Wiener y Simpson. Los resultados del índice de Shannon-Wiener revelaron una alta diversidad en las localidades de La Colina, La Párraga, Cerro Verde, La Reserva y San Agustín, mientras que el índice de Simpson indicó una diversidad moderada en La Reserva, Cerro Verde, La Párraga, La Colina, San Agustín y Río Grande-Pichincha. El incremento progresivo de la diversidad vegetal observado en las plantaciones sugiere una mejora significativa en la funcionalidad y resiliencia del ecosistema, reforzando el potencial de los sistemas agroforestales como estrategia de manejo sostenible.