Population of Aceria guerreronis Keifer (Acari: Eriophydae) and damage of the coconut fruit in South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

Coconut mite Aceria guerreronis Keifer (Acari: Eriophydae) as important pest in coconut plantation around the world. The population density of A. guerreronis has many impacts to coconut fruit damage. The purpose of research is to study population density of A. guerreronis, the coconut fruit damage and correlation population density in different coconut plantation at South Sulawesi. The information about presence of A. guerreronis is very useful to manage A. guerreronis for the development coconut plantation in South Sulawesi. The research was conducted in coconut plantation near the beach at three regencies of South Sulawesi namely Jeneponto, Wajo and Luwu. The observation of A. guerreronis population was held in laboratory at Plant Pest and Disease Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Hasanuddin Makassar from July to October 2019. Population of coconut mite A. guerreronis observed with washing twice all of coconut petals. First washing (P1) and second washing (P2) used 30 mL detergent solution. 1 mL of the washing water was collected observed used binocular microscope. The coconut petals after washing process observed under stereo microscope. The results show that the average damage of coconut fruit at Jeneponto was 20.35%, Wajo 14.6% and Luwu 10.6%. Population of adult and eggs of A. guerreronis at Jeneponto (2,566.45 individual and 828.95 eggs), Wajo (1,548 individual and 452.8 eggs) and Luwu (1,078.7 individual and 360.3 eggs). Findings of research show that there was a very strong correlation between population with damage level with R value at Jeneponto (0.919), Wajo (0.954) and Luwu (0.975).