[Edited_by_A._Ciancio,_C.N.R.,_Bari,_Italy_and_K.(Bookos.org)

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M.S.T. ABBAS
was found to be pathogenic to adults forced to feed on a suspension of bacterial
cells, and mortality occurred 8 days after ingestion.
In India, a highly potent cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus (CPV) specific to
RPW was also found (Gopinadhan, Mohandas, & Nair, 1990). The virus
infected all stages of the insect and laboratory infection of late larval stages
resulted in the development of malformed adults.
Among fungi, Beauveria bassiana was isolated from adults of R. ferrugineus
in UAE and Saudi Arabia, through a project operated by the Arab Organization
for Agriculture Development (AOAD), in the period 1997–2007 (Anonymous,
2008). The fungus was found to be highly pathogenic to both larvae and adults
in the laboratory (Hanounik et al., 2000b; El-Safty et al., 2007).
4.4. Nematodes
Praecocilenchus ferruginophorus (Aphelenchida) was recorded parasitizing R.
ferrugineus adults in India (Rao & Reddy, 1980). The size of the nematodes
found in the haemocoel ranged from small intrauterine specimens to larger
mature parasitic females, suggesting several simultaneous and unsynchronized
life cycles in the weevils. Abbas, Hanounik, Mousa, and Awash (2001b) and
Abbas, Hanounik, Mousa, and Mansour (2001c) isolated two entomopathogenic
nematodes (EPN), namely Steinernema abbasi and Heterorhabditis indicus from
adult R. ferrugineus. They also showed that 20–100% of the RPW adults were
found hosting other non pathogenic, unidentified nematodes.
5.1. Chemicals
5.1.1. Spraying
5. CONTROL
Preventative and curative spraying of chemical insecticides have been the most
common method applied for RPW control. All groups of insecticides have been
tested and applied as foliage and trunk sprayings. For example, Soenardi and
Hariadi (1978) reported that application of sevin or carbaryl gave effective field
control when applied every 2 months. Also, Abraham, Koya, and Kurian (1975)
tested seven insecticides against R. ferrugineus in Kerala, India and found that
trichlorphon gave the best control, with 92% of the infested palms recovering
from weevil infestation. In Egypt, El-Sebaey (2004a), concluded after field trials
that offshoots could be protected from RPW infestation for 11–13 weeks, by
dipping them for 15 min in a mixture of the insecticides confidor (75 ml/100 l of
water), oshin (125 g/100 l) mixed with 250 g/l of mud, before translocation and
re-cultivation.
It was observed that many infested trunk bases of date palms harbored
reliable numbers of different alive stages of RPW, below the soil surface. Such
trunk bases last alive, after removing severely infested palms above the ground