ABSTRACT
The Hawaiian sugar industry has converted about 35,000 ha of sugarcane fields from furrow to drip irrigation since 1971 (Gibson 1978). Since then, ant damage to plastic drip tubes has become a problem (Ota and Chang 1973). They chew through the tube walls and enlarge the orifices, thus flooding the damaged area and creating poor water distribution in the field. Similar damage by ants was reported in Australian drip-irrigated sugarcane fields (Chapman 1981). Sometimes damage is so extensive that drip tubes in a field must be replaced. If not corrected, this problem can result in heavy crop loss due to severe water shortage.
