No abstract

The previously identified female sex pheromone of cocoa pod borer, Conopomorpha cramerella, was re-evaluated for its attractive activity in different field conditions. It was found that lures containing 100-mug of synthetic sex pheromone blend, (E,Z,Z)- and (E,E,Z)-4,6,10-hexadecatrienyl acetates, and the corresponding alcohols in a ratio of 40:60:4:6 in a polyethylene vial attracted male C. cramerella moths in Sabah and peninsular Malaysia and in Sumatra and Sulawesi, Indonesia, suggesting that the same pheromone strain existed in a wide stretch of the Indo-Malayan archipelago. Of the three kinds of trap designs tested, the Delta traps were more effective than Pherocon V scale traps. Male captures were not significantly different among traps baited with 100-, 300-, or 1,000-mug doses of sex pheromone. A release rate study of pheromone formulation conducted in the laboratory showed that volatile active ingredients were desorbed from polyethylene vials following first-order kinetics, which indicates a satisfactory "half-life time" of a 100-mug loading is approximately 6 wk under laboratory conditions. A satisfactory attractiveness of the lure with a 100-mug loading was approximately 1-2 mo in the fields.

This paper describes the main distinguishing characteristics of female and male pupae and adults of cocoa pod borer, Conopomorpha cramerella (Snellen) (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae). Two pairs of tubercles present on the sterna of segments IX and X of the female pupae are useful in differentiating female from male pupae. The female genital opening is located anterior to the first pair of tubercles and forms a plateau in which the center has a light brown longitudinal depression that indicates the female genital opening. The male genital opening is a conspicuous, brown, longitudinal slit located between the two pairs of tubercles. The sex of the adult moth can be determined by examining the ventrocaudal segments of the abdomen. The last segment of the female abdomen is white, compressed laterally and at the tip, and the hairy anal papillae can be seen. In the male, the ventrocaudal end of the abdomen is black and robust. This information will be useful for laboratory and field diagnosis and while working on sex ratios of this important pest of cocoa.

No abstract

Cocoa pod growth modelling are useful in crop management, pest and disease management and yield forecasting. Recently, the Beta Growth Function has been used to determine the pod growth model due to its unique for the plant organ growth which is zero growth rate at both the start and end of a precisely defined growth period. Specific pod size (7cm to 10cm in length) is useful in cocoa pod borer (CPB) management for pod sleeving or pesticide spraying. The Beta Growth Function is well-fitted to the pods growth data of four different cocoa clones under non-linear function with time (t) as its independent variable which measured pod length and diameter weekly started at 8 weeks after fertilization occur until pods ripen. However, the same pod length among the clones did not indicate the same pod age since the morphological characteristics for cocoa pods vary among the clones. Depending on pod size for all the clones as guideline in CPB management did not give information on pod age, therefore it is important to study the pod age at specific pod sizes on different clones. Hence, Newton Raphson method is used to solve the non-linear equation of the Beta Growth Function of four different group of cocoa pod at specific pod size.