The impact of white grub infestation on sengon plantation and traditional control by local communities

White grub causes severe crop failure in some sengon plantation areas. However, study regarding this pest on sengon plantations is still limited. Therefore, a survey to observe cultivation practice by local farmers in controlling white grub has been carried out in the sengon plantation area. An interview regarding the impact of white grub infestation and its traditional control methods was also carried out with the forest farmers group and the management officer of Perum Perhutani, State-Owned Forest Corporation, to observe the farmer’s knowledge regarding white grubs and their impact on the plantation. In addition, we also carried out sampling to observe the white grub population. The result showed that the average white grub population in the soil was extremely high. The average population was at 20.9 individuals plot−1 (13.6 larvae m2 -1) and dominated by 6-8 cm in length larvae. Therefore, planting failure is expected due to its attack. The local farmer controls applying marang, a rice bowl made of plastic with a small hole on all sides when planting the tree, and collecting white grub larvae during soil tillage, using light trapping. Application of marang was considered to effectively increase the success in planting activity by about 80-90%.

Insect Management for Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes, both orange- and white-fleshed varieties, are widely grown in Florida. Foliar pests, leafminers, whiteflies and armyworms, are generally not difficult to manage; in fact insecticides should be avoided to conserve their natural enemies. More serious are those pests whose immature stages feed on roots: sweetpotato weevil, wireworms, banded cucumber beetles, pale-striped and sweetpotato flea beetles, and in south Florida, Diaprepes weevils and white grubs.

Biodiversity of white grub, (Coleoptera: Scaraeidae) in semi arid agro-ecosystem of Rajasthan

White grubs are the major insect pests of cultivated plants in semi arid agro-ecosystem of Rajasthan. It is important to understand diversity, abundance and distribution of scarabaeid beetles for planning effective pest management programme. The experimental data were collected from nine locations in three different ecosystems in Kharif season of year 2019. Species identification revealed that there was total nine species were recorded from 18885 specimens collected. The identified species were belongs under two subfamilies of Scarabaeidae family. Maximum specimens were collected in the month of July from selected sites. When species diversity was compared among different locations, it was found that Shannon Wiener diversity index varied from 1.235 to 1.095, which indicates that species were less diverse but frequently present. The present study can be used to formulate the integrated pest management strategies based on most abundance and diverse scarabaeids in semi-arid agro-ecosystem of Rajasthan.