and Integrated Pest Management - part - usaid

IPEST MANAGEF.N'rON OI IPALM IhNMALAYSIA
practiced without full quantitative information, albeit with a fair undcrstaiding
and appreciation of the ecological factors involved.
Pesicides remain the most important weapon. A list and range of suitable
pesticides have been reported by Wood et al. (1977). Commonly, selective
organophosphates, carbamates, and the more specific products such as the
Bacillus thuringiensisare recommended. Employment of the time-tested strategy
of using these known selective pesticides have regularly proven successful.
Moving away from this tradition, some entomologists are recommending
the use of potent and broad-spcctrum pesticides capable of very good kill and
quick knockdown 01 pest populations. Such pesticides have not been used often
enough to fully ascertain the wisdom of the strategy, but so far, there has been
no cause to think othervise because on many occasions, when they have been
extensively sprayed from the air or fogged, there has been effective control
without any lingering or recurrent problem.
Blanket sprays of herbicides have been suspected of disrupting insect
ecology and causing outbreaks. Workers in Sarawak showed that when herbicide
input was curbed, there was a significant reduction in insecticide requirement.
RAT CONTROL Anticoagulants in wax-bound baits provide effective control
of rats. With the development of resistance to these poisons in some localities,
the second gencration anticoagulants have been introduced.
AVAILABILITY OF PESTICIDES Consequent to the implementation of the
Pesticide Act of 1974, some of the pesticides which have been tested and used by
the industry have been de-registered, more on the grounds of toxicity and safety,
rather than on their relative merits as effective plant protection chemicals. There
has been no shortage of suitable alternatives, though not necessarily of
equivalent merit. The Pesticide Board has been extremely supportive and
appreciative of the needs of IPM, and has conceded, for example, the use of
monocrotophos for trunk injection. There are, however, no problems with
obtaining expeririental chemicals, such as growth regulators (Ng 1986) and
synthetic pyrethroids which are being popularly tested and shown to be
potentially useful.
Cultural and Mechanical Methods
Soil cultivation (plowing and harrowing) is normally part and parcel of the
pla.iting policy of oil palm plantations. It is especially recommended in areas
prone to Ganoderma. Similarly, leguminous cover crops are grown in all
nlantings for a range of agronomic reasons, but they have been shown to form a
vegetative barrier to reduce the breeding of the rhinoceros beetle in rotting trunks
and stumps (Wood 1968); therefore, they are encouraged where'rc- the beede is a
problem.
PALM SHREDDING In palm-to-paln replants, palm debris are the main
breeding sites of the rhinoceros beetle. Previously, the palm trunks were felled
and left to rot; nowadays, as it has become as cheap as conventional felling, the
189