The population fluctuations of adult palm beetles, Oryctes agamemnon mathiesseni and O. elegans in Mahshar date palm orchards of Khuzestan

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Shahid Chamran university of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.

2 Date Palm and Tropical Fruits Research Center, Horticultural Science Research Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Organization (AREEO), Ahvaz, Iran.

Abstract

Date palm borers are among the most important pests of date trees in Iran. This study aimed to determine the population fluctuations of rhinoceros beetles Oryctes sp., infesting the date palm Phoenix doctylifera, using light traps in Mahshar date palm orchards. Samplings were weekly conducted from 2021 to 2022 in two randomly selected date palm orchard. Over two years of monitoring coleopteran adults, two species of the genus Oryctes namely O. agamemnon mathiesseni and O. elegans were observed. The beginning seasonal activity of both univoltine species was middle May, reaching the peaks during summer, and the populations declined gradually till October. In each of research years, one of two species was dominant, so that in the first year, the number of adult beetles of O. agamemnon mathiesseni was significantly more than O. elegans, while in the second year, the number of O. elegans was higher. In both sampling years, the activity of dominant species in that year started earlier, and ended later. A two-year study of the sex ratio in these horned beetles revealed that females outnumbered males substantially (2.5 to 4 times in two years) in the subspecies O. agamemnon mathiesseni. For O. elegans, this ratio ranged from 1.5 times (2021) to 2.5 times (2022). The successful IPM programs are effectively dependent on prediction of the emergence time and population fluctuations of pest insects, and it is hoped that the results of this study will be useful to control of the rhinoceros beetles.

Keywords

References

Ahmadi K, Ebadzadeh H, Hatami F, Hoseinpour R, Abdshah H, 2019. Agricultural statistics, third volume, Horticultural products. Ministry of Agriculture Jihad, Vice President of Planning and Economic, Information and Communication Technology Center. 163 pp.  
Al-Deeb MA, 2012. Date Palm Insect and Mite Pests and Their Management. In: Manickavasagan A, Mohamed M, Essa M, Sukumar E (eds). Dates Production, Processing, Food, and Medicinal Values. Springer International Publishing. Pp. 113–128. 
Al-Deeb MA, Mahmoud ST, Sharif EM, 2012. Use of light traps and differing light colour to investigate seasonal abundance of the date palm pest, Oryctes agamemnon arabicus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Journal of Economic Entomology 105: 2062–2067.
Al-Deghairi M, 2007. Seasonal fluctuation of the date palm fruit stalk borer, Oryctes elegans Prell (Coleoptera : Scarabaeidae), in date palm plantation in Al-Qassim region, Saudi Arabia. Agricultural & Marine Sciences 12: 67–70.
Al-Jassany RF, Al-Saedy HM, 2019. Survey and identification of Oryctes beetle species (Coleoptera: Dynastidae) and determination of their relative occurrence in Iraq. Arab Journal of Plant Protection 37(1): 22–30.
Alizadeh P, Arbab-Tafti R, 2014. Implementation Guidelines for the Integrated Management of Wood-eaters in Palm Trees, Jebusaea hammerschmidti Reiche (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), Oryctes elegans and O. agamemnon (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Bureau of Early Detection and Control of Damage-causing Factors. Press Organization Jahade Daneshgah 9 pp. (in Persian).
Al-Sayed AE, Al-Tamiemi SS, 1999. Seasonal activity of the fruit stalk borer, Oryctes agamemnon (Burm). (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in Sultanate of Oman. Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Research 77: 1597–1605.
Aghajari Z, 2022. Investigation of spatial distribution, determining the sampling method and population fluctuation of dominant species of rhinoceros beetle Oryctes spp. (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in Mahshahr County, Khuzestan. MSc dissertation. College of Agriculture. Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Iran.
Alyousef A, Shaaban AD, Alderawii MM, Alsaadie HM, 2020. Monitoring and management of date palm borers by using light traps. Basrah Journal of Agricultural Sciences 33(2): 147–157.
Bedford GO, 2013. Biology and management of palm dynastid beetles: recent advances. Annual Review of Entomology 58: 353–372.
Bedford GO, Al-Deeb MA, Khalaf MZ, Mohammadpour K, Soltani R, 2015. Dynastid Beetle Pests. In: Wakil W, Romeno Faleiro J, Miller TA (eds). Sustainable Pest Management in Date Palm: Current Status and Emerging Challenges. Springer International Publishing. Pp. 73–108.
Chao CC, Krueger RR, 2007. The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.): overview of biology, uses, and cultivation. HortScience 45: 1077–82.
Dowson VHW, 1982. Date production and protection. United Nations FAO Plant
Production and Protection. 35 pp.       
Ehteshami S, Zahedi SM, Daneshvar Hakimi Meybodi N, Khazaei M, 2017. An introduction to Iran palms: types, usage and production problems. Azarian Journal of Agriculture 4(2): 46–53. 
Ehsine MH, Belkadhi MS, Chaieb M, 2014. Seasonal and nocturnal activities of the rhinoceros borer (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in the north Saharan oases ecosystems. Journal of Insect Science 14(1): 256.
El Bouhssini M, Faleiro JR, 2018. Date Palm Pests and Diseases Integrated Management Guide. Beirut, Lebanon: International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).     
El-Shafie HAF, 2012. Review: List of arthropod pests and their natural enemies identified worldwide on date palm, Phoenix dactylifera L. Agriculture & Biology Journal of North America 3: 516–524.
El-Shafie HAF, Abdel-banat BMA, Al-Hajhoi MR, 2017. Arthropod pests of date palm and their management CAB Reviews 12(049): 1–18.
Fasihi MT, 2011. A study on the population dynamism of sympatric species of Oryctes agamemnon and O. elegans Annual report of project. 11 pp. Bushehr: Agricultural and Natural Resources Center (in Persian).
Garris HW, Snyder JA, 2010. Sex-specific attraction of moth species to ultraviolet light traps. Southeastern Naturalist 9(3): 427–434.
Gharib A, 1967. Pseudophilus testaceus Gah = Jebusaea hammerschmidti Reiche (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae). Applied Entomology & Phytopathology 25: 21–26.
Ghaedi H, Kocheili F, Latifian M, Farrokhinejad R, 2020. Role of Oryctes elegans (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) as a vector of Fusarium proliferatum, the pathogen of Fusarium leaf wilt disease of date palm in Khuzestan province. Journal of Entomological Society of Iran 40(1): 47–64.‏
Hall DR, Harte SJ, Farman DI, Ero M, Pokana A, 2022. Identification of components of the aggregation pheromone of the Guam strain of coconut rhinoceros beetle, Oryctes rhinoceros, and determination of stereochemistry. Journal of Chemical Ecology 48(3): 289–301.
Howard FW, 2001. The Animal Class Insecta and the Plant Family Palmae. In: Howard FW, Moore D, Giblin-Davis RM, Abad RG (eds). Insects on Palms. CABI Publishing, New York. Pp. 1–32. 
Jafarirad S, Rasekh A, 2022. Food, Nutrition and Ecology. Arshadan Publisher, Iran. 146 pp.
Khalaf MZ, Alrubeai, HF, 2016. Chemical control of date palm tree borers, Oryctes species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae). Pakistan Entomologist 38: 1–5.
Khalaf MZ, Shabar AK, Naher FH, Jabo NF, Abdulhamza BH, Sami RA, 2012. Activity of insect fauna during the night in palm orchards of central Iraq. Journal of Food Science & Engineering 2: 277–282.
Mohammadpour K, Avand-Faghih A, 2008. Investigation on the possibility of co-mass trapping of the populations of red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus and date palm fruit stalk borer Oryctes elegans using pheromone traps. Applied Entomology & Phytopathology 75: 39–53.
Morin JP, Rochat D, Malosse C, Lettere M, de Chenon RD, Wibwo H, Descoins C, 1996. Ethyl 4-methyloctanoate, major component of male pherome in Oryctes rhinoceros (L.) (Coleoptera, Dynastidae). Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences 319(7): 595–602 (in French with English abstract).
Payandeh A, Dehghan A, 2010. Demography of date palm fruit stalk borer, Oryctes elegans (Col: Scarabeaidae) on date palm under laboratory conditions. Plant Protection Journal 2(3): 255–263.
Shahbande M, 2021. https://www.statista.com/statistics/960426/harvested-area-of-dates-by-leading-country-worldwide.[Accessed on 21 October 2023].
Soltani R, 2014. Observations on the biology and the ecology of Oryctes agamemnon arabicus, a pest of date palm tree in Southwest Tunisia. Tunisian Journal of Plant Protection 9: 131–142.
SPSS, 1998. SPSS 8.0 for Windows. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA.
Sudhersan C, Abo El-Nil M, 1999. Occurrence of hermaphroditism in the male date palm. Palms 43(18–19): 48–50.
Tabrizian M, Mohammadpour K, Nazari Tabak S, 2009. Synthesis and field evaluation of aggregation pheromone of date palm fruit stalk borer, Oryctes elegans. Applied Entomology & Phytopathology 77 (Pesticides Special Issue): 51–66.‏
Zaid A, 2002. Date Palm Cultivation (FAO Plant Production and Protection Paper No. 156, Revision 1). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.
Zaid A, De Wet PF, Djerbi M, Oihabi A, 2002. Diseases and Pests of Date Palm. In: Zaid A (eds). Date Palm Cultivation. FAO Plant Production and Protection Paper no. 156. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome. Pp. 227–242.
Journal of Applied Research in Plant Protection
Volume 13, Issue 2
July 2024
Pages 179-191

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 22 November 2023
  • Revise Date: 18 December 2023
  • Accept Date: 07 January 2024

Share

How to cite

Statistics