Abstract:
Low country live-wood termite is a common and serious pest in the low country tea growing regions of Sri Lanka. The termite which starts its damage by entering through pruning cut ends and end up with damaging branches of tea followed by a total bush debilitation as a result of poor supply of nutrients. There was no proper controlling method for live-wood termites in the low country regions. Hence, a study was conducted to determine the severity of damage of Glyptotermes dilatatus on commonly growing tea cultivars in Watawala Plantations PLC, Homadola which is located in Ruhuna tea growing region. TRI 2025, TRI 2026, TRI 2027, and TRI 2043 cultivars found in the estate in five different pruning cycles were selected. Average Number of Galleries per bush (AGB), Average Number of infected branches per bush (AIB) and Average gallery length of each bush (AGL) were assessed under five pruning cycles for each cultivar. The severity of low-country live-wood termite damage was varied from higher to lower in TRI 2043, TRI 2027, TRI 2026 and TRI 2025, respectively. The results revealed that the termite infestation is more severe .during 4th pruning cycle of each cultivar.
Keywords: Glyptotermes dilatatus (Low country Live wood termite), Pruning cycles, Tea cultivar, Termite galleries
