| Challenge/Issue |
The pest has a ubiquitous distribution. The adult beetle bores the unopened fronds and spathes. The affected frond when fully open shows the characteristics geometric cuts. Infestation on spathes often destroys the inflorescences and thus prevents production of nuts. In severe cases the production of nuts reduced drastically
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| Method |
1. Maintainance of sanitation in coconut gardens by proper disposal of decaying organic debris.
2. Extraction of beetles with hooks, without causing any further injury to the growing point of palm.
3. The innermost 2nd and 3rd leaf axils may be filled with Sevidol 8G (25 g) + fine sand (200 g) per palm.
4. Filling leaf axils with 10.5 g Napthalene balls covered with sand at 45 days intervals.
5. The breeding sites such as decaying organic debris, FYM heap, dead coconut stumps, logs and compost may be treated with Carbaryl 50% WP @ 0.01% at April, Sept. and Dec in heavily infested tracts.
6. Baculovirus inoculated beetles @ 10-15 per hectare can be released to bring down the pest population.
7. Release of exotic predator Platymeris laevicollis was also found to be effective.
8. Inoculation of breeding ground with entomopathogen Metarhizium anisopliae @ 5 X 10 11 spores can give effective control.
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| Lessons learned |
1. Sanitation is one of the most important steps for controlling this pest.
2. Treatment of breeding sites with chemical pesticides is only necessary in case of severe infestation.
3. Unavailability of natural enemies in time is one of the limitations.
4. Integrated approach was proved effective in controlling the beetle.
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