A Hot Water Treatment for Control of the Banana Root Borer, Cosmopolites sordidus (Germar) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), in Banana Planting Stock

Abstract

Banana corms and all life stages of the banana root borer, Cosmopolites sordidus (Germar), were immersed in a circulating hot water bath and subjected to a treatment of 43.3°C for 3 hours to determine phytotoxicity and insect mortality. In a field trial, 21 of 24 treated plants survived. All of 18 treated plants survived in a greenhouse trial. An additional group of 18 plants all survived in a greenhouse following a treatment of 43.3°C for 3.5 hours. Control plants for the three groups exhibited reduced survival. All of the 75 eggs and 160 adult weevils tested died. Post-treatment dissections of heavily infested corms yielded larval (n = 725) and pupal (n = 28) mortalities of 99.9% and 96.4%, respectively. Control larvae (n=939) and pupae (n=91) exhibited complete survival.