Termites Assemblages, Damage Assessment And Controlling Termite Pest In Oil Palm Planted On Peat, Sibu, Sarawak
Loading...
Date
2017-03
Authors
Ali, Muhammad Farhan
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
A study on termite assemblages, damage assessment and controlling termite pest in oil palm planted on peat was conducted in Sibu, Sarawak. The objectives were to determine the termite structural community in peat and the abundance of the pest population in oil palm plantation, to estimate the severity of termite infestations according to palm age and to evaluate the performances of several liquid and baiting termiticides against termites. The termite assemblage study was conducted on three palm ages: immature palms (IP), young mature palms (YP) and fully mature palms (MP). Each study site deployed a modified transect measuring 5x2m2 for the purpose of termite sampling. The subfamilies encountered were Coptotermitinae, Rhinotermitinae, Macrotermitinae, Nasutitermitinae and Termitinae. The Coptotermitinae subfamily consisted of three species; Coptotermes curvignathus, Coptotermes sepangensis and Coptotermes kalshoveni. The other subfamilies consisted of Schedorhinotermes sp, Macrotermes gilvus, Nasutitermes sp., Termitogeton sp., Heterotermes sp., Pericapritermes sp., and Termes sp. The diversity indices indicated that the IP site had the lowest diversity (H’=1.521, M=1.214). The highest diversity was recorded in the MP site (H’=2.056) and had a high diversity richness (M=2.982). However, the YP and MP sites had a low number of Evenness (J) with 0.758 and 0.651 respectively. Study on termites as pests between the study sites indicated that there was a higher incidence of destructive termites in fully matured palms as compared to immature palms. The percentage of termite infestations on fully matured oil palms planted was 43.63%, while immature palms and young mature palms recorded 3.43% and 3.03%, respectively. There was a significant difference (p<0.05) detected at fully mature palms with regard to termite infestation. The results of the internal palm damage study revealed that 1.15% (226) palms were damaged by termite infestations. The results for the evaluation of termiticides showed that the application of fipronil recorded the lowest number of palms with termite occurrences (20.0%) in 90 DAT as compared to imidacloprid and hexaflumuron treatment.
Description
Keywords
Termite assemblages, damage assessment and controlling termite pest , in oil palm planted on peat was conducted in Sibu, Sarawak