The effect of preventive measures in reducing red palm weevil infestation

Abbas, M.K. 2019. The effect of preventive measures in reducing red palm weevil infestation. Arab Journal of Plant Protection, 37(2): 158-158. The red palm weevil (RPW) Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is a palm borer native to South Asia, recorded in Egypt in date palm plantations of Sharkia and Ismailia governorates in 1992. The infestation at present is distributed all over the country including 26 governorates. A survey was conducted in Bahria oases, Giza governorate in Egypt in two successive years 2016 and 2017 to determine the red palm weevil infestation rate in 10000 palm trees. During the first year of study 2016, results indicated that the total infestation rate reached 21% (2100 palm trees), with 41 % (861 palm trees) of infested palm trees had air offshoots, whereas 20.2 % (430 palm trees) of infested palm trees had a large number of offshoots. On the other hand, 19.8 % of infested palm trees did not have offshoots, however, in orchards with drip irrigation system for comparison, the observed infestation rate was 5 % only (105 palms). Moreover, in case of flood irrigation system, the observed infestation rate was relatively higher (14 %). During the second year of the survey (2017), horticultural practices were applied including removal of aerial offshoots, in addition to pesticide spray with chlorpyrifos at a rate of 3 ml per liter of water which resulted in reducing infestation rate to 9%. It could be concluded that preventive measures can reduce pest incidence by 80.2%, in comparison with untreated areas, where pest infestation increased four times.