Efficacy of aggregation pheromone in trapping red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier) infested Date palms in Damietta, Egypt

The study was applied on date palm plantations of Ezbet AlGabaila, Kafr Al-Battikh, Damietta, Egypt to determine RPW population fluctuation, correlation with environmental factors
(temperature & relative humidity) and sex ratio during the experimental period from March 2013 to February 2014. Results indicated that the total number of captured weevils was 2184
weevil. Based on chi square test, there was a highly significant difference in numbers of captured weevils from month to another. The highest number of weevils was 698 weevils, captured in
March but the lowest catch was 49 weevils recorded in December. Two major population peaks were noticed: the first peak reached its maximum in March; the second peak started in September,
reached its maximum in October. Also significant difference was found between males and females as sex ratio was about 1 male: 2.6 females; this proved the ability of the tested pheromones to capture more females than males weevils in the traps which makes trapping a potential tool for managing this economic insect. There was a linear relation between the numbers of captured RPWs and both temperature and humidity, respectively. These relations was a high significant positive relation found between number of captured RPWs using pheromone traps and field temperature
conditions, while a high significant negative relation was found with field relative humidity. Results concluded that the pheromone traps have a great effect in capturing adults of RPWs.