Field ablation as cultural control for bunch moth Tirathaba mundella infestation in young mature oil palm

Su Chong Ming, . and Bong Joseph Choon Fah, . and Khairulmazmi Ahmad, . Field ablation as cultural control for bunch moth Tirathaba mundella infestation in young mature oil palm. pp. 463-470. ISSN 1511-2780

The oil palm bunch moth Tirathaba mundella is becoming an oil palm bunch feeding pest of significant economic importance especially on peat soil in Sarawak. The goal of this research was to investigate the cultural control effect of field ablation on heavily infested young mature oil palm planted on peat by T. mundella. From the field census carried out at bimonthly interval after three rounds of field ablation the ablated fields consistently showed significantly high new T. mundella infestation 41.63 at week 20 13.24 at week 28 and 7.68 at 36 weeks after three rounds of field ablation for oil palm fruit bunches category as compared to only 17.21 4.78 and 4.55 in the control fields within the same monitoring period. Besides that the mean larvae count obtained from ablated fields at week 20 was 28.68 which was also significantly higher than that obtained from the control field at only 12.84 larvae. At week 20 the mean T. mundella larvae count and mean percentage of new infestation in ablated plots were 123.44 and 141.89 higher than control respectively. Both detailed field census and random field sampling results suggested that there was no significant effect of three rounds of field ablation in reducing T. mundella proliferation and larvae density in actual field conditions. Therefore field ablation could not be proven to be an effective control measure to manage the initial pest density and proliferation in the actual young mature oil palm fields especially when those fields were heavily infested. Other means of control methods should therefore be further explored to effectively control the pest which at the same time is environmental-friendly to maintain a balanced oil palm ecosystem.

Full text available from: Official URL: http://jopr.mpob.gov.my/field-ablation-as-cultural...

Abstract

The oil palm bunch moth Tirathaba mundella is becoming an oil palm bunch feeding pest of significant economic importance especially on peat soil in Sarawak. The goal of this research was to investigate the cultural control effect of field ablation on heavily infested young mature oil palm planted on peat by T. mundella. From the field census carried out at bimonthly interval after three rounds of field ablation the ablated fields consistently showed significantly high new T. mundella infestation 41.63 at week 20 13.24 at week 28 and 7.68 at 36 weeks after three rounds of field ablation for oil palm fruit bunches category as compared to only 17.21 4.78 and 4.55 in the control fields within the same monitoring period. Besides that the mean larvae count obtained from ablated fields at week 20 was 28.68 which was also significantly higher than that obtained from the control field at only 12.84 larvae. At week 20 the mean T. mundella larvae count and mean percentage of new infestation in ablated plots were 123.44 and 141.89 higher than control respectively. Both detailed field census and random field sampling results suggested that there was no significant effect of three rounds of field ablation in reducing T. mundella proliferation and larvae density in actual field conditions. Therefore field ablation could not be proven to be an effective control measure to manage the initial pest density and proliferation in the actual young mature oil palm fields especially when those fields were heavily infested. Other means of control methods should therefore be further explored to effectively control the pest which at the same time is environmental-friendly to maintain a balanced oil palm ecosystem.

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Item Type:	Article
AGROVOC Term:	Pyralidae
AGROVOC Term:	Elaeis guineensis
AGROVOC Term:	Arthropods
AGROVOC Term:	Cultural control
AGROVOC Term:	Oil palms
AGROVOC Term:	Fruits
AGROVOC Term:	Insect control
AGROVOC Term:	Insect pests
AGROVOC Term:	Pest control
AGROVOC Term:	Pests
Geographical Term:	Malaysia
Depositing User:	Ms. Suzila Mohamad Kasim
Last Modified:	28 Apr 2025 07:19
URI:	http://webagris.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/24273

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