Kawalan Siput Gondang di Sawah Menggunakan Umpan Penarik

Pomacea spp. or apple snails are one of the main rice pests in Malaysia. It is unfortunate that farmers prefer to use chemical molluscicides especially the illegal mollusicicides from other countries to control this pest. The use of chemicals brings negative effect to farmer s health and environment. One of the suggested measures to avoid the excessive use of chemical molluscicides is by physical control through handpicking. However, manual handpicking is backbreaking and not very effective. The use of attractant baits can ease the hard work of manual handpicking or enabling spot spraying of molluscicides which minimizes the overuse of application. The effectiveness of several materials as apple snail attractant baits was studied on screen house scale and field scale. Jackfruit and papayas are highly recommended to be used as attractant baits as well as cassava leaves and water spinach. Most of the snails were found attached to the materials either to feed or for shelter. All these type of attractant baits can be used to gather and collect apple snails in rice fields especially before the broadcasting stage of the rice seeds. The use of attractant baits also is seen as an important component of integrated management of the apple snail.