Browsing by Author "Arun Kumar, S."

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    Status of rodent damage to coconut in Andaman and Nicobar Islands
    (2012-12) Ajanta Birah; Arun Kumar, S.; Tripathi, R.S.
    The Andaman and Nicobar group of islands forms an arched string of 572 islands and islets stretching from Union of Myanmar in the north to Sumatra in the south. Coconut is the major plantation crop in the Bay islands in about 20927 ha land in India. Rodents cause severe losses to coconut in nurseries as well as in orchards world over, however, such information from Andaman and Nicobar islands is lacking. Therefore, studies on status of rodent problem (infestation rate and nut damage) in coconut were undertaken at thirty-nine locations of Andaman including nearby islands of south,north and middle Andaman districts. Nineteen rodent species exist in these islands belonging to genera Rattus, Mus and Funambulus, three species have been reported to be associated with losses in coconuts. Among various rodent species, the black rat (Rattus rattus) is primarily responsible for tender nut damage and is considered to be the major pest. All the orchards were infested with rodent pests ranging from 2.5 per cent (Dollygunj) to 74.5 per cent (Adajik) in Andaman and from 5.6 to 65.2 per cent in other islands (Little Andaman, Neil and Havelock Islands.Similarly, the nut damage ranged from 4.2 to 6.3 per cent (Andaman) and 4.1 to 5.9 per cent (other islands). The overall average rodent infestation and nut damage in the study areas was 26.1 and 5.1 per cent, respectively. The present maiden and extensive finding therefore indicates the need to evolve effective rodent management strategies for enhancing coconut production in these Islands.