![]() Pull a sack containing a heavy object around the edges of rice paddies or at 10−15 m intervals. You can also use attractants or plants that attract snails, such as papaya and cassava leaves, to make hand picking easier.Īpple snails have difficulty moving in less than 2 cm of water. Keep water level below 2 cm during the vulnerable stages of the rice plant.Ĭonstruct small canals or canalettes (e.g., 15−25 cm wide and 5 cm deep) after the final land preparation. ![]() Place bamboo stakes to provide sites for egg laying that allows easy collection of snail eggs for destruction. This is best done in the morning and afternoon when snails are most active. However, it is important to take extra care and cook the snails thoroughly, as they are known carriers of the rat lungworm. Snails can also be harvested, cooked and eaten or sold as animal feed.Several wild bird species have also adapted to feed on golden apple snails and domestic ducks can be put into fields during final land preparation or after crop establishment when plants are big enough (e.g., 30−35 DAT). Red ants feed on the snail eggs while ducks (and sometimes rats) will eat young snails.Keep fields drained as much as possible during the vulnerable stages of the rice plant (below 30 days) or transplant 25−30 day old seedlings from low density nursery beds.Conduct mass snail and egg collection campaigns, involving the whole community, during land preparation and planting or crop establishment.To best control the snail, communities should work together to reduce snail numbers in their area. The critical time to manage golden apple snails is during land preparation and crop establishment or planting specifically, first 10 days after transplanting (DAT), and during the first 21 days after direct wet-seeding.Īfter this, the crop is generally resistant to snail damage and snails are actually beneficial by feeding on weeds. This damage could lead to more than 50% yield loss. If no control measure is taken, they can completely destroy 1 m 2 of field overnight. The golden apple snail is considered a major problem of rice. To confirm snail damage, check for missing hills, cut leaves, and cut stems. They are bigger and lighter in color compared to native snails. Golden apple snails have muddy brown shell and golden pinkish or orange-yellow flesh. To distinguish golden apple snails from native snails, check its color and size. ![]() Once the rice plant reaches 30−40 days, it will become thick enough to resist the snail. They damage direct wet-seeded rice and transplanted rice up to 30 days old. When water is absent, apple snails are able to bury themselves in the mud and hibernate for up to six months. When water is re-applied to fields, snails may emerge. Snails are able to spread through irrigation canals, natural water distribution pathways, and during flooding events. Golden apple snails eat young and emerging rice plants. They cut the rice stem at the base, destroying the whole plant. They were introduced to Asia, from South America, in the 1980s as potential food for people, but it unfortunately became a major pest of rice. Two species, Pomacea canaliculata and Pomacea maculata, commonly known as Golden Apple Snails, are highly invasive and cause damage to rice crops. There are more than 100 species of apple snail that exists.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |