Managemet of oil palm bunch moth (Tirathaba mundella walker) in young mature oil palm plantation on peat soil in Sarawak, Malaysia
The oil palm bunch moth, Tirathaba mundella is one of the most important pests for oil palm planted in peat. Chronic outbreak of this pest is getting more pronounced in recent years when more peat lands were being cleared for oil palm in Sarawak. When proper control measures were not in place, th...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/78367/1/FSPM%202016%203%20%20-%20IR.pdf |
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| Summary: | The oil palm bunch moth, Tirathaba mundella is one of the most important
pests for oil palm planted in peat. Chronic outbreak of this pest is getting more
pronounced in recent years when more peat lands were being cleared for oil
palm in Sarawak. When proper control measures were not in place, the
outbreak would cause a significant reduction on oil palm early yield. The results
of three rounds field ablation demonstrated that percentages of new infested
bunches in ablated fields were significantly higher (41.63%, 13.24%, 7.68%)
than non ablated fields (17.21%, 4.78%, 4.55%), which is the control at week
20, week 28 and week 36 respectively. This suggested that it is not justifiable
for oil palm growers to carry out field ablation as cultural control practice
against oil palm bunch moth, T. mundella in young mature oil palm plantation
as commonly believed. Further studies were being conducted to evaluate the
effectiveness of seven insecticides namely Bacillus thuringiensis,
Flubendiamide, Chlorantraniliprole, Pyridalyl, Fipronil, Cypermethrin and
Flufenoxuron on controlling oil palm bunch moth, T. mundella in a young
mature oil palm plantation. Two insecticides namely Chlorantraniliprole and
Flubendiamide outweighed the other conventional and biological insecticides in
controlling oil palm bunch moth, T. mundella with significantly higher
percentages of uninfested bunches with their effectiveness stretching to six
months after treatment. These treatments also showed significantly lower
percentages of new infested bunches, old infested bunches and number of
larvae count within the monitoring period. The effect of controlling T. mundella
using biological insecticide, Bacillus thuringiensis, which was the conventional
practice in the oil palm plantation were inconsistent and fluctuated across all
the parameters studied. This study also assessed the detrimental effects of
selected insecticides on oil palm natural pollinators, Elaeidobius kamerunicus.
Out of eight insecticides namely Flubendiamide, Chlorantraniliprole,
Dinotefuran, Fipronil, Cypermethrin, Flufenoxuron, Pyridalyl and Indoxacarb
which were selected for the study, only three insecticides were found to have detrimental effects on E. kamerunicus. The mean number of newly emerged
adult E. kamerunicus obtained from male inflorescences treated with
Dinotefuran, Fipronil and Cypermethrin were only 0.58, 4.74 and 6.05
respectively. This is significantly lower as compared to other insecticides
namely Bacillus thuringiensis (56.31), Flubendiamide (19.72), Chloratraniliprole
(23.61), Flufenoxuron (36.96), Pyridalyl (30.93), Indoxacarb (38.16) and
control (43.06). The effectiveness of the six E. kamerunicus friendly
insecticides on controlling oil palm bunch moth, T. mundella were then
evaluated in the follow-up study where one round of field ablation was
incorporated before the insecticides treatment. The results of the study
suggested that there were no additional benefit in conducting one round of field
ablation before the insecticide application in controlling T. mundella. Among the
six insecticides which were found to be safe for oil palm pollinators,
Chlorantraniliprole and Flubendiamide demonstrated the best control results
throughout the six months monitoring period with only two rounds of spraying at
14 days interval. From these studies, it is recommended that young mature oil
palm fields with severe T. mundella infestation can be controlled most
effectively with two rounds of Chloratrniliprole at 14 days interval. These should
be followed by two rounds of Flufenoxuron at 14 days interval, after 3 months
of the second spraying of Chlorantraniliprole. With these practice, the control of
oil palm bunch moth can be effectively sustained for six months without
affecting the survival of oil palm pollinators. This is very crucial to achieve
sustainability of oil palm production for young mature plantation. |
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