THE EFFICACY OF SYNTHETIC FOOD BAITS IN CAPTURING RED PALM WEEVIL, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (COLEOPTERA: CURCULIONIDAE) IN CAMPUS AREA OF UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA TERENGGANU

Abstract

Red Palm Weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus is known
as one of the most destructive pest of major cultivated palm industries
such as coconut palm (Cocos nucifera), date palm (Phoenix
dactylifera) and oil palm (Elaeis guineensis). In early 2007, RPW
was first recorded in some small coconut plantations in Setiu,
Terengganu by Department of Agriculture (DOA). One of the current
methods to control the RPW is the use of the pheromone traps instead
of chemical pesticides. In this current study, a 60 days experiment of
pheromone mass trapping using synthetic food baits was conducted
around Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) campus to evaluate
the effectiveness of synthetic food baits in capturing RPW. A total 

number of 164 individuals of RPW were captured in this study. E2
treatment (ethylene glycol) recorded the highest number of trapped
RPW with 52 individuals (10.4 individuals/trap), followed by E1
treatment (ethyl acetate), E3 treatment (ethanol) and control which
were 48 individuals (9.6 individuals/trap), 44 individuals (8.8 individuals/
trap) and 20 individuals (4 individuals/trap) respectively. However,
there was no significant difference between total numbers of trapped
RPW with the types of treatment (F=1.174, df=3, p=4.449).
Interestingly, the sex ratio of trapped adults was clearly female biased
(4 female: 1 male) as there was significant difference between the
sexes (t=4.699, df=19, p= 0.000). This study has showed that palm
esters could be used as potential synthetic food bait in pheromone
trapping system of RPW which is suitable to be applied in dry or wet
monsoon seasons.