Pest Management in Horticultural Ecosystems

  • Year: 2017
  • Volume: 23
  • Issue: 1

Efficacy of bait free pheromone trap (ElectrapTM) for management of red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

  • Author:
  • Sami Al-Saroj1, Emad Al-Abdallah1, Abdul Moneim Al-Shawaf1, Abdel Moneim Al-Dandan1, Ibrahim Al-Abdullah1, Abdullah Al-Shagag1, Yousef Al-Fehaid, Abdallah Ben Abdallah2, Jose Romeno Faleiro3,
  • Total Page Count: 5
  • DOI:
  • Page Number: 55 to 59

1Centre of Date Palm and Dates, Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, P. B. 43, Al-Hassa-31982, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

2C21, Carthage Palace Residence, Centre Urbain Nord, 1003, Tunis, Tunisia

3Mariella, Arlem, Raia, Salcette, Goa-403 720, India

Abstract

The Red Palm Weevil (RPW) Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) isakeypest of palms that has significantly expanded its geographical range in diverse agro-ecosystems during the last three decades. Food baited pheromone (ferrugineol) traps have been widely used in both RPW surveillance and also in mass trapping programmes for over two decades. Currently RPW pheromone traps have to be serviced (change of food bait and water) at bi-weekly intervals to sustain the trapping efficiency. In area-wide RPW-Integrated Pest Management (IPM) pragrammes, trap servicing is unsustainable and also not possible due to the enhanced cost associated with this practice. In this study the comparative efficiency of the service-less dry pheromone trap (ElectrapTM) against the traditional food baited traps, revealed that weevil captures in both the ElectrapTM and the food baited traps (PicusanTrapTM and the bucket trap) were statistically similar. The ElectrapTM offers a sustainable service-less trapping option for RPW management, especially in areas where the trap density has to be increased due to high weevil activity.

Keywords

Drytrap, ElectrapTM, pheromone traps, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus