%0 Journal Article
	%A F. O. Faithpraise and  J. Idung and  C. R. Chatwin and  R. C. D. Young and  P. Birch and  H. Lu
	%D 2014
	%J International Journal of Bioengineering and Life Sciences
	%B World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
	%I Open Science Index 90, 2014
	%T Sustainable Control of Taro Beetles via Scoliid Wasps and Metarhizium anisopliae
	%U https://publications.waset.org/pdf/9999978
	%V 90
	%X Taro Scarab beetles (Papuana uninodis, Coleoptera:
Scarabaeidae) inflict severe damage on important root crops and
plants such as Taro or Cocoyam, yam, sweet potatoes, oil palm and
coffee tea plants across Africa and Asia resulting in economic
hardship and starvation in some nations. Scoliid wasps and
Metarhizium anisopliae fungus - bio-control agents; are shown to be
able to control the population of Scarab beetle adults and larvae using
a newly created simulation model based on non-linear ordinary
differential equations that track the populations of the beetle life
cycle stages: egg, larva, pupa, adult and the population of the scoliid
parasitoid wasps, which attack beetle larvae. In spite of the challenge
driven by the longevity of the scarab beetles, the combined effect of
the larval wasps and the fungal bio-control agent is able to control
and drive down the population of both the adult and the beetle eggs
below the environmental carrying capacity within an interval of 120
days, offering the long term prospect of a stable and eco-friendly
environment; where the population of scarab beetles is: regulated by
parasitoid wasps and beneficial soil saprophytes.

	%P 642 - 647