Insect Pests of Fruit, Plantation, Medicinal & Aromatic Crops (2+1)

1. Giant African snail - Achatina fulica

Damage

• The snails are found in betelvine gardens by clinging to the lower and protected surface of the leaves of supporting plants.
  
• They feed on sprouted buds, leaves, outer layers of the stem of betelvine and supporting trees.
  
• The supporting plants are also damaged.
  
• They also feed upon bodies of dead snails of their own species.
Bionomics

• The snails are large in size, bisexual with shell and weigh about 110-150 gm.
  
• The shell is about 7-15 cm long and brown in colour.
  
• Its infestation is high during rainy and winter season.
  
• It lays eggs during the rainy season, 2 to 4 weeks after mating in the soil surface or just below, it is batches of up to 200 at a time.
  
• They hatch after about a week and young ones take about nine months to mature.
  
• The adult live for three or four years and each can lay about 1000 eggs during its life time.
Management

• Search the hiding places of snails, collect and destroy.
• Heap the gunnybags near the fences of the cropped areas to attract the snails, collect and kill them.
• Spread metaldyhide pellets 5% over the field to attract and kill the snails.