Preliminary study on design and development of a catch and release red palm weevil (RPW) trap

Anuar Abdullah, . and Mazidah Mat, . and Wan Khairul Anuar Wan Ali, . and Nor Ahya Mahadi, . and Noor Azlina Masdor, . and Wahizatul Afzan Azmi, . and Khairul Idzwan Ayub, . and Mohd Fadly Abdull Rasid, . (2022) Preliminary study on design and development of a catch and release red palm weevil (RPW) trap. International Journal of Agriculture, Forestry and Plantation (Malaysia), 12. pp. 151-154. ISSN 2462-1757

The red palm weevil (RPW) is a Rhynchophorus phytophagus insect which specifically feeds on palmae. In Malaysia, studies indicate red palm weevil as a pest of palm trees especially the economically important coconut, palm oil and sago (Sivapragasam et al., 1990). R. ferrugineus has been recently reported to be present in northern east coast states of Peninsula Malaysia especially in Kelantan and Terengganu. Current strategies for management of the RPW are mostly based on insecticide applications which might cause long-term damage to the environment and human health. Recently in Malaysia, the Department of Agriculture (DOA) has conducted many approaches to control its spread, including spraying with the cypermethrin and soil drenching in the highly infested areas. Besides, the DOA is also conducting pheromone trapping using the aggregation pheromone imported from Costa Rica (ferrolure, 4-methyl-5-nonanol) throughout Malaysia to control the RPW infestation. However, the effectiveness of the control strategies is still unknown as the infestations keep increasing in recent years. Therefore, this paper will discuss on the design of a catch-and-release trap as an integrated method to control RPW’s population biologically. In this experiment, the biological control used is metarhizium anisopliae which converted into an emulsion form. The metarhizium anisopliae strain infects insects that come in contact with. Once the fungus spores attach to the outer surface of the insect, they germinate and start to grow. After penetrating the outside skeleton of the insect, they grow rapidly inside the insect, causing the insect to die. As for the catch-and-release trap, it is an integrated system which are using a commercial pheromone to attract RPW’s into the trap. After RPW is enter the trap, an infra-red sensor will detect the presence of RPW and automatically spray the metarhizium anisopliae emulsion according to the desired volume, which can be set according to the spraying time. Usually it takes about 48-72 hours after spraying to make sure the spores start to infect the RPW’s body. During the period, it will allow the RPW to return to their population and infected others including pupa and larvae.

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Abstract

The red palm weevil (RPW) is a Rhynchophorus phytophagus insect which specifically feeds on palmae. In Malaysia, studies indicate red palm weevil as a pest of palm trees especially the economically important coconut, palm oil and sago (Sivapragasam et al., 1990). R. ferrugineus has been recently reported to be present in northern east coast states of Peninsula Malaysia especially in Kelantan and Terengganu. Current strategies for management of the RPW are mostly based on insecticide applications which might cause long-term damage to the environment and human health. Recently in Malaysia, the Department of Agriculture (DOA) has conducted many approaches to control its spread, including spraying with the cypermethrin and soil drenching in the highly infested areas. Besides, the DOA is also conducting pheromone trapping using the aggregation pheromone imported from Costa Rica (ferrolure, 4-methyl-5-nonanol) throughout Malaysia to control the RPW infestation. However, the effectiveness of the control strategies is still unknown as the infestations keep increasing in recent years. Therefore, this paper will discuss on the design of a catch-and-release trap as an integrated method to control RPW’s population biologically. In this experiment, the biological control used is metarhizium anisopliae which converted into an emulsion form. The metarhizium anisopliae strain infects insects that come in contact with. Once the fungus spores attach to the outer surface of the insect, they germinate and start to grow. After penetrating the outside skeleton of the insect, they grow rapidly inside the insect, causing the insect to die. As for the catch-and-release trap, it is an integrated system which are using a commercial pheromone to attract RPW’s into the trap. After RPW is enter the trap, an infra-red sensor will detect the presence of RPW and automatically spray the metarhizium anisopliae emulsion according to the desired volume, which can be set according to the spraying time. Usually it takes about 48-72 hours after spraying to make sure the spores start to infect the RPW’s body. During the period, it will allow the RPW to return to their population and infected others including pupa and larvae.

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Item Type:	Article
AGROVOC Term:	coconuts
AGROVOC Term:	oil palms
AGROVOC Term:	sago
AGROVOC Term:	pest control
AGROVOC Term:	biological control
AGROVOC Term:	catch and release
AGROVOC Term:	Metarhizium anisopliae
AGROVOC Term:	aggregation pheromones
AGROVOC Term:	population control
AGROVOC Term:	integrated pest management
Geographical Term:	Malaysia
Depositing User:	Mr. Khoirul Asrimi Md Nor
Date Deposited:	21 May 2026 03:36
Last Modified:	21 May 2026 03:36
URI:	http://webagris.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/3923

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