At the risk of being chased off this forum I will admit that as a tropical tree crop agronomist specialising in breeding disease resistant coconut palms, the rhinoceros beetle (Oryctes spp) is a pest.
The particular disease I am concerned with is lethal yellowing and an infected palm will die in 4-6 months, leaving a rotting stem as an ideal Oryctes breeding site.
Unless the palm stem is cut down, cut up and destroyed by burning the adult beetles that emerge go directly to the disease resistant seedlings that I have supplied and that the farmer has planted and many seedlings die as a result.
It has been suggesed that instead of removing the dead palm stems the farmers could be encouraged to regularly collect larvae before metamorphosis and cook them to produce chicken feed or even human food.
At a stroke the farmer is saved the expense of cutting and burning the old palm stems, has saved the new seedlings from being killed and has produced food for the farm animals, the farmers family or for sale, thereby recovering some of the income that was lost when the coconut palms got lethal yellowing.
Please can anyone say if anything like this has already been tried?
Hugh Harries
Honorary Research Associate
Royal Botanic Gardens
Kew
The particular disease I am concerned with is lethal yellowing and an infected palm will die in 4-6 months, leaving a rotting stem as an ideal Oryctes breeding site.
Unless the palm stem is cut down, cut up and destroyed by burning the adult beetles that emerge go directly to the disease resistant seedlings that I have supplied and that the farmer has planted and many seedlings die as a result.
It has been suggesed that instead of removing the dead palm stems the farmers could be encouraged to regularly collect larvae before metamorphosis and cook them to produce chicken feed or even human food.
At a stroke the farmer is saved the expense of cutting and burning the old palm stems, has saved the new seedlings from being killed and has produced food for the farm animals, the farmers family or for sale, thereby recovering some of the income that was lost when the coconut palms got lethal yellowing.
Please can anyone say if anything like this has already been tried?
Hugh Harries
Honorary Research Associate
Royal Botanic Gardens
Kew