The effect of habitat condition of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) to arthropods and rat infestation

Abstract

The research was conducted to evaluate the effect of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) plantation types on the diversity and abundance of arthropods, the population and percentage of rat infestation. The research was conducted at oil palm plantation in Cikasungka, Bogor Regency, West Java in 2015 with three different types of plantations i.e. clean cultivation, natural vegetation, and legume cover crop. This research used three sampling methods i.e. pitfall trap, swing net, direct observation. The research was carried out in an area of 100 m x 100 m with 20 sample plants for each habitat. Sampling technique, trapping, and observation of arthropods and rat infestation were done nine times with an interval of two weeks. The results indicated that legume cover crop habitat had the highest arthropods diversity index and the lowest rate of rat infestation, compared with those of the other habitat types of plantations.