COMPARATIVETRAITSOFPOLLINATINGWEEVILSANDFACTORSAFFECTINGITS

POPULATIONINMALAYSIA

RAMLE MOSLIM & NORMAN KAMARUDIN

TASK FORCE OIL PALM POLLINATING WEEVIL AND FRUIT SET

22 January 2016

HISTORY

•  To improve FFB - assisted pollination by hand

was developed but it is labour intensive and costly. Trading of pollens become business within the oil palm industry.

•  Introduction of Elaeidobius kamerunicus to

address the poor pollination problem and high cost of assisted pollination.

•  Indigenous pollinating insects : Thrips hawaiiensis (P. Malaysia) and Pyroderces sp. (Sabah) inefficient to improve FFB yield.

Importation •  Suggested by Leslie Davidson •  Research on identification species by R A Syed in 1977 in

Cameroon. •  July 1980, a batch of 1044 pupae of E. kamerunicus arrived in

KL. Quarantine and intensive (Syed 1982, Kang & Zam, 1982)

Introduction •  Feb 1981. Mamor Estate, Kluang, Johor

(Morning). •  March 1981. Pamol Estate, Sandakan,

Sabah (Afternoon) (Law & Syed 1984) •  Feb 1982 released in most estates •  Jun 1981. Papua New Guinea •  Dec 1981. Thailand •  Mac 1983. Indonesia

POLLINATING INSECTS IN WEST AFRICA

1. Elaeidobiuskamerunicus2. E.plagiatus3. E.singularis4. E.bilineatus5. E.subvi;atus6. E.spatuliferTRAITSOFINTEREST•  Lifetable•  Effectsofreproduc3verate,weatherandagesofpalm

ofpopula3on.•  Searchingabilityandinter-andintra-specific

interac3on•  Hostspecificity

Male Female

E. subvittatus E. plagiatus E. kamerunicus

Female

Stage E. k E. p E. s E.k** Eggs < 1 < 1 2 2.02 Larva I < 1 < 1 1 1.20 Larva II 1 1 1 1.16 Larvae III 6 3 14 1.29 Pupa 3 3 4 1.33 Adult M 11 – 13

F 10 - 11 8 - 9 21 - 23 ?

L. Expectancy 23 - 25 17 - 18 28 – 31 ? Gen. Time (T) 19.4 18.7 16.3 15.4 Repro. Rate 32.3 20.0 10.5 ? P. Growth Rate 0.097/d 0.083/d 0.092/d 0.085/d

LIFE TABLE*

** Hussien & Rahman (1991) * Syed (1981)

Population of pollinating weevil on anthesising male inflorescence

Lobe Estate, Cameroon in 1979 Syed (1981)

Effect of climate on population of pollinating weevil on anthesising male inflorescence

Lobe Estate, Cameroon in 1973

114.8 (mm) 8 d

335.3 (mm) 21 d

477.1 (mm) 23 d

865.1 (mm) 31 d

435.4 (mm) 19 d

275.6 (mm) 17 d

Syed (1981)

Population of pollinating weevil on spikelets of male inflorescences

Lobe Estate, Cameroon in 1973 Syed (1981)

Proportion of pollinating weevil attracted to male inflorescences

Lobe Estate, Cameroon in 1973 Syed (1981)

Adult (E. kamerunicus) ♂ 235 pollens/adult ♀ 56 pollens/adult

Pollen carrying capacity of pollinating weevil

E. kamerunicus – 150 p/a E. plagiatus – 15 p/a E. subvittatus – 15 p/a

Sex Pollen Carrying Capacity

(x102)

Pollen Load

(x102)

Pollen Transferred

(x102)

Pollen Transffering

Ability (%)

Male 38.6 18.4 14.1 76.4 Female 21.5 11.2 7.8 70.2

Dhileepan (1992)

Pollen carrying capacity, pollen load and pollen transferring ability of Elaeidobius

kamerunicus

Pollen Carrying Capacity – Amount of pollen carried by weevils while congregating on anthesising male inflorescence Pollen Load – Pollen carried by weevil while entering receptive female Pollen Transferred – Amount pollen entering minus leaving the receptive female

•  Abundance of species on male inflorescence: E.k > E.s > E.p

•  Abundance of species in dry season: •  E.k > E.s > E.p •  Abundance of species in wet season:

E.k > E.s = E.p •  Abuncance of species on all ages of palm:

E.k > E. p > E. s •  Searching ability : E.s > E.k > E.p •  Pollen carrying capacity:

E.k (150p/a) >E.p & E. s (15p/d) •  Host range

E.k restricted to only to genus Elaeis.

Comparative efficiency of pollinating weevils

Syed (1981)

No. Parameter Apr - Jun 1981

Jan – Jun 1982

Jan –Jun 1983

1 B. Wt (kg) 10.8 14.5 14.5 2 F/S (%) 48.2 71.0 64.8 3 F/B (%) 57.0 64.9 63.4

4 WM/F (%) 81.3 76.8 78.3

5 O/B (%) 21.3 23.1 21.6 6 K/F (%) 8.0 10.3 9.7 7 S/F (%) 7.1 8.0 7.7

8 K/B (%) 4.7 6.8 6.3 9 M. F. Wt (g) 13.1 8.9 8.7

10 T. Oil 2.3 3.4 3.1

EFFECT OF POLLINATING WEEVIL ON BUNCH COMPONENTS AT MAMOR ESTATE

Law and Syed (1984)

Effect of pollinating weevil on fruit set at Mamor Estate, Kluang

Lau and Syed, (1984)

Fluctuation of weevil populations from 1983 to 1986

1984

Basri et al., (1987)

Time (month/year)

Possible factors affecting population of pollinating weevil

1.  Climate (high rainfall, haze, el-nino etc) 2.  Natural enemies – predators & pathogen

(nematodes) – reduce life span, weak. 3.  Narrow genetic base – reduced fecundity, life

span, weak generation, etc. 4.  Usage of chemicals – insecticides, herbicides,

fungicides etc 5.  Pollen viability due to boron deficiency. 6.  High yielding planting materials with high sex ratio

– D X P, Clone, Interspecific hybrid 7.  Less attractive to new planting materials 8.  Competition with other insects

Effect of rainfall, population of weevil and fruit set at Lahad Datu, Sabah

1997

1997

Basri et al., (1998)

Time (month/year)

FS values recorded at 6 moths after the rainfall data were collected

Effects of rainfall on population of weevil at Merotai Estate, Tawau, Sabah

1997Time (month/year)

Basri et al., (1998) FS values recorded at 6 moths after the rainfall data were collected

Effect of rainfall and fruit set on population of weevil at Terusan Estate, Sandakan, Sabah

Basri et al., (1998) FS values recorded at 6 moths after the rainfall data were collected

Relationship between population of weevil with rainfall, fruit set in Sabah

2007

Mohd Rezuan et al., (2013)

Effect of natural enemies on population of weevil

1.  Predators – Birds (Pycnonotus goiavier), squirrels and rats* 2.  Spiders – Gasteracantha hasselti* 3.  Insects - Cosmolestes picticeps, Cantaconidae sp* 4.  Pathogens – Nematode (Poinaretal.,2002)

C. picticeps

Liau, (1984) Yellow-vented Bulbul

Pathogen - Nematode Parasi3cnematode,ElaeolenchusparthenonemaFemalenematodeinfec3nglarvae&adultweevil.Reducedlifespan(Poinaretal.,2002)Infesta3onduetolowgene3cdiversityofweevilpopula3on

Long term study - 2002 to 2010 (Zulkifli et al., 2012) Lahad Datu (Sabah), Lawas (Sarawak) MPOB Keratong (Pahang), MPOB Hulu Paka (Terengganu) MPOB UKM (Selangor) Ladang Bukit Benut (Johor)

ConclusionNematodeinfesta3ononweevilsdidnotaffectthefruitset.TheFSlevelremainedabove58%

Nematode infestation at Lawas, Sarawak

GENETIC VARIATION OF Elaeidobius kamerunicus*

1.  MPOB UKM, Selangor 2.  MPOB Kluang, Johor 3.  MPOB Hulu Paka, Terengganu 4.  Gambang Estate, Pahang 5.  Serting Estate, N. Sembilan 6.  MPOB Lahad Datu, Sabah 7.  Terusan Estate, Sandakan Sabah 8.  Merotai Estate, Tawau Sabah 9.  Sipit Estate, Tawau Sabah

RAPD-PCR method, 10 mers primers, 10 primers

Identical band patterns, 4 primers Different band patterns, 6 primers

* Ramle et al., (1998), unpublished data

- 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 M M - 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Primer 45 Primer 48

GENETIC VARIATION OF Elaeidobius kamerunicus

- 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 M M - 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Primer 16 Primer 11

GENETIC VARIATION OF Elaeidobius kamerunicus

GENETIC VARIATION OF Elaeidobius kamerunicus

Dendogram generated from primer 16

EFFECT OF CHEMICALS AND BIOLOGICAL AGENTS ON POLINATING WEEVIL

1.  Cypermethrin 2.  B. thuriengiensis 3.  B. bassiana 4.  M. anisopliae

Active ingredient Adult* Immature** 100%

0% 8-58%

22-37%

Ramle et al., (1998; 1999),

?% ?%

56-64 (ctr 65) 61-80 (ctr 74)

* At 6 days after treatment, ** newly emerged adults from treated spikelet, ctr = control

IMPROVING OF WEEVILPOPULATION VIA HATCH & CARRY TECNIQUE*

*Eko Prasetyo & Susanto (2015)

1. Hatch and carry technique

Methods – distance between box 400m, 6-9 PAMI/box New emerged adults, sprayed with pollen (>60%), rate 1g/box/d, release time 8-10am, 15 boxes/worker (250-230ha/worker)

Results – FS increased by 30% and even higher N. Sumatra – FS increased from 67.7% to 88.6%

IMPROVING OF WEEVILPOPULATION VIA HATCH & CARRY TECNIQUE*

2. Hatch and carry mobile technique

*Eko Prasetyo & Susanto (2015)

Methods – New emerged adults in bags sprayed with pollen (>60%), bags were distributed to harvester, released time 8-10am.

Results – FS increased by 17-26% for 6 months BW increased by 7.75%, Yield/ha increased by 8.41%

Oil Extraction Rate (OER) from1984-2013

ACTION PLANS TO IMPROVE POLLINATION AND FRUIT SET

•  Benchmarking interest traits of pollinating weevil.

•  Comprehensive understanding on possible factors affecting population of weevil.

•  Improve field management through implementation of good agricultural practices.

•  Importation of new species of pollinating weevil.

Thank You Thank You