The reported presence of Mango Seed Weevil in the Phillipines prevents mango fruit from this country accessing lucrative export markets including the United States and Australia. This small activity was a six-month detection survey for mango seed and pulp weevils in the province of Sarangani. It initiated sampling on Samal Island and also maintained a low level monitoring program in Davao del Sur in Mindanao, Philippines, continuing from ACIAR-funded project Detection surveys for mango seed and pulp weevils in Sarangani and Davao del Sur, Mindanao, Philippines (HORT2007/210). The broad objective of this project was to increase profitability of mango-growing enterprises at all levels by expanding the areas of mango production certified as being free from seed and pulp weevils, thereby increasing the export opportunities and value of Philippine mango fruit.
The team undertook detection surveys for mango seed and pulp weevils, commencing in March 2007 and ended in February 2008. The presence of seed weevil in the Philippines is disputed while pulp weevil is only confirmed from the island of Palawan in western Philippines. These intensive surveys aimed to demonstrate the current status of both pests in Sarangani and Samal Island as well as demonstrating ongoing area freedom in Davao del Sur. These three provinces contain important mango-producing areas with significant export potential.
The project received the full support of the Provincial Local Government units (LGU) who pledged logistics assistance as required. During the survey, eight mango fruits from each of 10,600 and 2,015 individual bearing trees were collected and processed from Sarangani and Samal Island respectively. Furthermore, mangoes from 2,894 trees were processed in the ongoing detection survey in Davao del Sur.
Trees and fruit were randomly selected, fruits were cut open and the flesh and seed visually inspected for presence of weevils and/or symptoms. At the same time fruit were assessed for damage from other insect pests to provide data on significant insect activity. This information will be useful in a current ACIAR-funded project to improve mango pest management and postharvest handling for mango in the Philippines.
These results showed no evidence of any stage of seed or pulp weevil in 84,800, 16,120 and 23,152 sample fruits from Sarangani and Samal Island and from Davao del Sur respectively.
The project also supported research into the district-wide distribution of mango seed weevil in north Queensland commercial and domestic mango trees during 2006-07 as well as studies to develop practical field control strategies.
The project demonstrated that neither mango pulp nor seed weevils were present in the provinces surveyed and these data can be used to assist Philippine Quarantine to access export markets via area freedom certification. Many export markets are currently closed to the Philippines due to the uncertain status of these two mango pests of Quarantine importance.
Links:
[1] http://www.aciar.gov.au/country/Philippines
[2] http://www.aciar.gov.au/programarea/Horticulture