Efficacy and Cost of Trap–Bait Combinations for Capturing Rhynchophorus palmarum L. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Ornamental Palm Polycultures

Abstract

Ornamental palms are an economically important component of international trade yet have recently experienced yield losses in Mexico due to red ring and bud rot diseases, which are spread by Rhynchophorus palmarum L. Considering that massive capture is a common strategy to control this pest and the cost of commercial traps and baits could be inaccessible for small farmers, an inexpensive trap-bait combination is desired. In this study, 16 trap-bait combinations for capturing R. palmarum were assessed in ornamental palm polycultures over the course of 1 year. An expensive yellow bucket trap combined with aggregation pheromone + insecticide + banana was compared with inexpensive, handmade trap-bait combinations. A total of 4712 weevils were collected in all traps, of which 52.7% were male and 47.3% female. The efficacy of the handmade trap made from a colorless polyethylene bottle and baited with banana + pineapple + sugarcane + sugarcane molasses was similar to that of the yellow bucket trap baited with aggregation pheromone + insecticide + banana. These two trap-bait combinations remained effective even when the R. palmarum population significantly decreased during the dry, warm season. The affordable handmade trap baited with food attractants and without insecticides was highly efficient in capturing R. palmarum and therefore represents an effective tool for monitoring weevil populations. As ornamental crops have recently gained greater economic importance in the studied region, the use of a novel and cheap trap-bait combination could offer great benefits to producers and form part of the integrated management of R. palmarum.

Dynamis borassi (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), a New Potential Pest to the Palms (Arecaceae): An Early Warning for the Palm Producers

“…Pineapple peel used as food bait in this work also could have played an important role in the number of catches, as suggested by Rochat et al (2000). The effectiveness of this bait to attract large numbers of weevils on its own also have been observed in other studies (Wahizatul & Haris-Hussain 2014;Murguía-González et al 2018). The use of different types of traps and other food baits may render better results (Abdel-Azim et al 2017;Milosavljević et al 2020a, b); however, this specific subject was not our purpose.…”

Perspectives for Synergic Blends of Attractive Sources in South American Palm Weevil Mass Trapping: Waiting for the Red Palm Weevil Brazil Invasion

“…The semiochemical is the primary control tool for this pest, participating in several mass-trapping opportunities with fresh and fermenting food lures. Much of the researchers’ concern has focused on the pure trapping ability of the devices [ 67 , 68 ], but studies on the cost/efficacy of attractant combinations [ 69 , 70 ] and the use of traps in ornamental palm polycultures [ 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 ] exist. Technology today suggests the usage of digital tools also to study the efficacy of traps [ 76 ].…”

“…The experiences are contradictory but suggest exploring the attractive potential of semiochemicals originating from fermenting plant material. The use of a new and inexpensive bait trap combination could offer significant benefits to producers and become a robust device to include in R. palmarum IPM [ 70 , 71 ]. Innovation in trap design and technology [ 69 , 76 , 92 ] may also play a role if novelties will well-embed management opportunities in local palm orchards.…”

Registros de Dryophthorinae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) de la Costa Caribe colombiana

“…Debido a que la enfermedad anillo rojo es muy importante en cultivos de palmas, R. palmarum es una especie bien estudiada. Se conocen aspectos sobre su biología, feromonas, distribución, nemátodos asociados y métodos de control (Moya-Murillo et al, 2015;Plata-Rueda et al, 2016;Murguía-González et al, 2018). Además de su importancia agrícola, R. palmarum tiene una gran importancia cultural, dado que muchas comunidades de la Amazonía (de casi todos los países que la conforman) se alimentan de sus larvas, en algunos casos porque se recolecta de palmas caídas y en otros casos porque se cultiva como fuente de proteína (Delgado et al, 2008).…”