Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) and Oryctes rhinoceros L. : Planting material effect

In Southeast Asia, Oryctes rhinoceros L. is a major pest in young oil palm replantings. The beetles attack the palms when searching for food, boring galleries in the oil palm spears. The rotting stems of felled oil palms, or those killed by Ganoderma, provide ideal breeding sites. Several control measure are available: breeding site destruction, protecting the young palms by applying insecticides, trapping by using pheromone, and by other biological control methods. An analysis of Oryctes rhinoceros L. attacks in the CIRAD-SOCFINDO Aek Loba Timur Project genetic trials confirms the observations carried out in some clonal trials planted by PT SOCFINDO at its PSBB Research Centre, i.e. that some seed-derived and clonal genotypes are particularly attractive to the beetle, or in contrast, ignored. An Attractiveness Index, formulated from these observations, varies from 30 to 200. The origin of the relative attractiveness of the different progenies needs to be investigated further. The possible consequences of this relationship are discussed. (Resume d'auteur)