Pests & diseases of coconut
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Pest name
African rhinoceros beetle belongs to the genus Oryctes and mainly associates with palms i.e.coconut, date palm, and African oil palm. Most of the Dynastinae beetles are not pests, however, some have the potential to cause severe damage [1].
Reported as major problem in many countries in South East Asia, Caribbean (Jamaica) and Africa (Kenya).
Bud rot, caused by the fungal agent Phytophthora palmivora, is one of the major diseases of palms. Bud rot occurs on coconut and other palms (e.g., betel nut, oil palm), but Phytophthora palmivora infects many other crops (e.g., cocoa and papaya), as well as weeds, in Pacific i
Rhynchophorus palmarum, the South American Palm Weevil is reported to feed on 35 plant species from 12 different families [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] but this species has been mostly reported as a pest for a number of palms and on sugarcane [6, 7]. The weevil can vector the nematode Rhadinaphelenchus cocophilus, an obligate parasite which causes the red-ring disease in palms [8]
Phytoplasmas are associated with many serious diseases of coconut including lethal yellowing- like diseases (LYDs) [1]. Candidatus Phytoplasma palmae is one of the LYDs which is re
The fungus, Marasmiellus cocophilus causes basal stem break and lethal bole rot in coconut seedlings [1]. In East Africa, the fungus has only been reported on coconut, but, in the Solomon Islands it has also been found growing on Bermuda grass, junglerice and goose grass. Death in palms is observed in younger palms up to 8 years old [2]. The entire bole decays in some cases due to infection by secondary bacteria [3].
Raoiella indica is reported in many of the countries in the Southeast Asia region. It is considered to be a major pest in India and Sri Lanka.
Besides coconut (Cocos nucifera), R. indica is present in betel palm (Areca catechu), date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) and hurricane palm (Dictyosperma album). It was also reported in the famil
Brontispa longissimi is one of the most serious coconut pests in the Southeast Asia region.
The host range of B. longissima includes various Palmae [Arecaceae]. In Papua New Guinea, coconut, sago palms, areca or betel palm (Areca catechu), royal palms (Roystonea regia), oil palm and ornamental palms are attacked. In northern Australia, hosts include areca palms (A. catechu), nicobar palm (Bentinckia nicobarica), carpentaria palm (Carpentaria acuminata) and fish tail palm (Caryota mitis). In Hong Kong, it is also reported from ivory nut palm (Phytelephas), petticoat palm (Washingtonia robusta), king palm (Archontophoenix alexandrae) and dwarf date palm (Phoenix ro
Coconut cadang-cadang disease is caused by a viroid. The name, ‘cadang-cadang’ is derived from ‘gadan-gadan’, which means ‘dead’ or ‘dying’ in the Filipino dialect.
CCCVd has
Oryctes rhinoceros is endemic to the coconut-growing regions of South and South-East Asia from Pakistan to the Philippines (CIE, 1967).
Primarily found attacking coconut and oil palm, O. rhinoceros has also occasionally been recorded on banana (Sharma and Gupta, 1988), sugarcane, papaya, sisal and pineapple (Khoo et al., 1991). In Mauritius, ornamentals such as the royal palm (Roystonea regia), the
Rhynchophorus vulneratus is native to Southeast Asia and was originally referred to as Rhynchophorus ferrugineus variety schach.
R. vulneratus is essentially a pest of plants belonging to the Palmae family. Leong (1987) reported that young sago palms provided better conditions than older ones for reproduction of R. vulneratus. Kimura (1979) reported R. vulneratus as a major pest of sago palm. Althou
R. phoenicis occurs on a range of wild and cultivated palm trees (Palmae), mainly oil and coconut palms (Hill, 1983). Adult R. phoenicis occur year-round in tropical Africa where palms are present. The common breeding sites include stressed, wounded, dying and fallen palms. Adult R. phoenicis are good fliers and in immature stages the pest can be dispersed within infested palm tissue.
Mahasena corbetti, the coconut case caterpillar, is a polyphagous species of bagworm [1]. This species is classified as leaf-eating pest caterpillars that produce tough silk out of their bags from dried foliage. Currently, M. corbetti is considered a pest of quaran
The main hosts of this beetle are coconut, oil palm and betel nut. Its alternate hosts include banana, sugarcane and wild palms. The beetle usually attacks the young coconuts from the seedling stage to about 5 years old. Meanwhile the adult beetles attack the nut of the coconut, however this is a rare incident (Arura, 1984; L Beaudoin-Ollivier, CIRAD-CP, France, unpublished data).
The coconut scale is a common pest of coconut and banana. It also infests many other trees and ornamental plants, some of the hosts include avocado, bird of paradise, breadfruit, ginger, guava, mango, mock orange, mountain apple, palm, papaya, pandanas, plumeria and sugarcane.
The red palm weevil, also known as the Asian palm weevil digs holes in the palm trunks up to 1 meter long, which weakens the palm and coul
The leafminer, Promecotheca cumingii is considered a minor or occasional pest of species of palms. It attacks coconut palm, oil palm and betel palm. The pest outbreak occurs after long dry periods. The damage caused by this pest is usually extensive and widespread when outbreak happens. Pest outbreak is often due to reduced number of natural enemies in the field.
The coconut mite, Aceria guerreronis Keifer, is considered an important pest of coconuts which attacks young coconut fruits. Despite being small in size, i.e. largest length of 250 µm, high mites’ populations and extensive feeding can cause scarring and distortion of fruit. This eventually leads to premature fruit drop. The mites are likely to spread from palm to palm through air current or phoresy and crawl between nearby palms
Sexava nubila, and a number of long-horned grasshoppers which belongs to the genera of Sexava are significant pests of coconut. The outbreaks happen in places where overgrown coconut is present. Other than coconuts, the treehoppers also attack sago, acera nuts and Salak
Bogia Coconut Syndrome (BSC) was reported in the Bogia district (Madang province) in 2008. Hence its name; Bogia Coconut Syndrome. The disease was recorded both in old and newly planted palms. Since its first identification, the BCS has caused major losses in coconuts in Madang province and expanded through years, even though it is still confined in the province. BCS is estimated to kill 1-2 coconut palms/month [9]. BCS has
The Coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB), Oryctes rhinoceros (Linn) is a cosmopolitan pest of palms including coconut and oil palm. CRB invaded many Pacific islands in the early 20th century through human-mediated dispersal (Reil et al., 2018) and was first recorded in PNG in 1942 (Catley, 1969). The current invasive pest which is of concern is in fact a new biotype known a
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