By

 Dr. AHMED BREAM

ahmed_bream@hotmail.com

      Red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, has different common names such as coconut weevil, Asiatic palm weevil, or Indian red palm weevil. It is a serious pest for coconut in some Asiatic regions and an important pest for the date palm in the Near East. It was recorded in some Arabian Gulf States during eightieths and then reported as a destructive insect for date palms in Egypt at 1992 (Saleh, 1992; Cox, 1993).

    The red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Oliv. (Curculionidae : Coleoptera) is an economic pest of coconut causing damage and often killing the palm in its prime of life. The adult is a reddish-brown weevil with a prominent snout which measures about 35 mm in length. Eggs are laid at the bole region. The hatched grubs burrow into the trunk and feed on the tissues of the stem. These grubs pupate inside fibrous cocoons and emerge as adults. The presence of small holes at the leaf scars, oozing out of a reddish-brown fluid, extrusion of fibers from these holes and slightly audible sound of the feeding activity are the symptoms of infestation. The pupation and emergence within the same stem allow successive generations within it. This pattern leads to excavate large cavities within the same stem. This dangerous pest invaded Egypt during November 1992 causing some economically serious damages to the date palm trees at El Sharqia and Ismailia Governorates. Now, up to 5 Governorates suffered from this pest in Egypt.

     Red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Oliv. is a serious pest attacking different species of palm trees (e.g. date palm, coconut palm and royal palm). This pest has been reported in Asia, Australia, Philippines, and Thailand as early as 1962 (Mathen and Kurian 1962, Wygner, 1962). Lever (1969) advocated that the origin of red palm Weevil is tropical Africa, although Abraham et al. (1975) claimed that its origin is India, Later the weevil was recorded in India, Serilanka, Indonesia, Burma, Punjab and Pakistan (see also: Lakshmanan et al., 1972; Muthuraman, 1984). The weevil was reported in United Arab Emarates at 1985, in Saudi Arabia at 1987 and in Egypt at 1992 (Cox, 1993).

How people control and deal with RPW:

1) Regulary Survey carry out and depend on the number of the trees. Well trained agronomists offer the main data to evaluate control applications depending on the percent and rate of infestation.
 

2)  Agricultural quarantine enforced among infested and clear governorates to prevent the distribution of this pest.
 

3)  Chemical Control using different chemical insecticides Such as Diazinon, profinfos and fibronil had been achieved by regular spray, injection of infested trees and offshoot treatments. In addition gas treatmen using phosphine gas and soil treatment using granular insecticides are also used. Biological control methods gave some results.
 

4) Phormone traps are promising method to minimal the numbers of the pest offered by the ministry of Agriculture and used in all infested areas.

5) Removal of offshoots and treat the tree with chemical prevent the infestation.
 

6)  Intensive research programs, scholarships, projects and information exchange are encourage by Prof. Dr. Youssef Wally, Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation to face this dangerous pest.

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RPW World Report