BIO-EFFICACY OF BIOPESTICIDES AND BOTANICALS ON RUGOSE

SPIRALLING WHITEFLY

INTRODUCTION
Coconut (Cocos nucifera) is one of the most important crops in tropical area. It is usually referred as
'tree of heaven' or ‘kalpavriksha' because it provides more useful and diverse product to the people. Coconut
is grown in more than 93 countries in the world in an area of 12 million hectares, within annual production
of 59.98 million tonnes of nuts. According to Food and Agricultural Organisation, Indonesia is one of the
largest coconuts producing country with a production of 18 million tonnes of coconuts followed by
Philippines with an annual production of 15.86 million tonnes of coconuts. India occupies third position in
the world level with an annual production of 10.56 million tonnes of coconuts. In India Kerala, Tamil Nadu,
Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa, West Bengal and Assam are the major coconut producing states in
India. India consumes 50% of annual production for their culinary and religious purpose, 35% used as copra,
2% for manufacturing of value-added products, 11% for tender uses and 2% for seed purpose.
Coconut plays a significant role in the agrarian economy of India and it is the third largest producer
of coconut with 19.20% of world production. It is grown on 1.94 million hectares in 19 states and 3 union
territories of India producing 15,730 of nuts with an average productivity of 44.27 nuts/ palm/ tree
(NABARD 2016). An eriophyid mite, the rhinoceros beetle, red palm weevil, black headed caterpillar and
white grub are considered as a major pest of coconut in India while the two whiteflies viz., Aleurocanthus
arecae (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) and Aleurodicus dispersus, recorded on coconut in India are considered as
a major pest. The invasion and establishments of Rugose spiralling Whitefly Will Further jeopardize the
coconut industry in India in terms of reduction in coconut production, quality of nuts and increased in
production cost due to more insecticide application for management of the pest. The very destructive rugose
spiralling Whitefly (RSW) Aleurodicus rugioperculatus Martin (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) – a dangerous
invasive – has entered India and has been found ingesting the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera L.) in Pollachi,
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India during the month of September, 2016. Subsequently, the Whitefly
population increased greatly and spread across the coconut palm growing areas of Pollachi region mostly on
high yielding hybrid varieties of coconuts. The infestation was very severe on Lower leaves as compared to
that of the middle and upper young leaves in dwarf and hybrid coconut palm which are about 4 to 6 years old
population completely covered some leaflets and were even observed on the inflorescence, pedicle and
exocarp which resulted in a reduction in fruit set and nut yield/ tree. Population (immature stage) ranged
from 18 to 37 nymphs/ cm2 of leaflets. The infestation resulted in the premature drying of leaflets. RSW
adults are three times larger (approx 2.5mm) than commonly found whiteflies and are lethargic in nature. It
is closely related to giant Whitefly, Aleurodicus dugesii cockerell . RSW adults can be distinguished by their
large size and the presence of pair of light brown bands across the wings. Males have long pincers like
structure at the end of their abdomen. The continuous dry spell and availability of host plants in large area
and absence of natural enemies might favoured its multiplication.
Currently it has been found only in Tamil Nadu, but it is likely to spread to other coconut growing
coastal states as well as on other potential host plants in the country. The current incidence of RSW in India
is alarming due to polyphagous nature and it has a great potential to extend its host range and spread to other
coconut growing countries in the oriental region. Non-native species can achieve invasive pest status when
they are accidentally introduced to areas where they are separated from the natural enemies and if local
(indigenous) beneficial species (predators and/or parasitoids) are unable to suppress pest population (Duan
et al., 2015). Therefore a holistic approach is needed for adaptation of rapid response strategies against its
invasion by educating farmers, creating awareness and extension entomologists working along with other
stakeholders. A coordinated programme involving coconut growing countries to contain its spread and
develop suitable management strategies is needed.
Biological control is a fundamental tactic for pest suppression. Biological control refers to the use of
natural enemies against a pest population to reduce the density of pest and consequently the damage to self
perpetuating once established and usually does not harm non-target organisms found in the environment. In
addition, it is not polluting or as disruptive to the environment as chemical pesticides, nor does it leave
residues in food, a concern to many people today. However, adopting biological control does require
detailed knowledge of the pest's biology and population dynamics associated with the pest and their impact
on (Lawrence et al., 1914). Rugose spiralling whitefly, is effectively controlled by adopting biological
control method, effectively utilizing entomopathogenic fungi and botanicals.
Entomopathogenic fungi are a group of phylogenetically diverse, heterotrophic, eukaryotic,
unicellular or multicellular(filaments) microorganisms that reproduce via sexual or asexual spores, or both.
They have chitinized cells and are generally non-mobile (Badii; Abreu, 2006). The term entomopathogenic
refers to those microorganisms that are capable of attacking insects using them as hosts to develop part of
their life cycle (Delgado; Murcia, 2011), those that reduce pest insect populations to levels that do not cause
economic damage to crops (Tanzini et al., 2001), or those that are a mean of control in the reduction of
disease vectors (Scholte et al., 2004). They are also defined as facultative or obligate parasites of insects,
with a high capacity for sporulation and survival. They constitute a group of great interest for the biological
control of insects. Approximately 80% of the diseases that occur in insects have a fungus as the causative
agent. Practically all insects are susceptible to some of the diseases caused by these fungi, which can lead to
death. There are fungi that can invade dead insects, called saprophagous, and fungi that infect living insects,
called entomophagous. Of the estimated 1.5 to 5.1 million species of fungi in the world approximately 1,000
are fungal entomopathogens placed in over 100 genera. Fungal entomopathogens, thus, constitute the largest
number of taxa that are insect pathogens identified 171 fungal based products used as biocontrol agents since
the 1960s, most of them based on Beauveria bassiana, Beauveria brongniartii, Metarhizium anisopliae,and
Isaria fumosorosea.
Asian countries are rich in plant products and traditionally used by the rural inhabitants for medicinal
purpose and in some instance as preparations for insect control (Talukdar and Howse, 1993). Botanical
insecticides tend to have broad spectrum activity, are relatively specific in their mode of action, and easy to
process and use in farm-levels. They are also safe for higher animals and the environment . Botanical
insecticides can often be easily produced by farmers and small-scale industries with indigenous plant
materials. These are cheaper and hazard free in comparison to chemical insecticides (Saxena et al., 1980).
Plants are rich sources of natural substances that can be utilized in the development of environmentally safe
methods for insect control (Sadek, 2003). Crude plant extracts often consist of complex mixtures of active
compounds, they many show greater overall bioactivity compared to the individual constituents. The
deleterious effects of crude plant extracts on insects were manifested in several ways, including toxicity and
feeding inhibition. Certain plant families, particularly Meliaceae, Rutaceae, Asteraceae, Labiateae,
Piperaceae and Annonaceae were viewed as exceptionally promising sources of plant-based insecticides
(Isman, 1995).