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A ten‐year study of population dynamics of citrus pests in the pesticide‐reduced orchard
Author(s) -
Itioka Takao,
Inoue Tamiji,
Ishida Norio
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
population ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1438-390X
pISSN - 1438-3896
DOI - 10.1007/bf02514795
Subject(s) - orchard , biology , integrated pest management , pesticide , pest analysis , population , fruit tree , agronomy , toxicology , population density , pest control , horticulture , demography , sociology
Summary To determine the effectiveness of a pest management system that uses pesticides at a low level, we censused populations of seven insect pests and three plant diseases from 1980 to 1989 in a citrus orchard which was managed with a pesticide‐reduced and pesticide‐free protocols, in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. In the orchard, we controlled the pests solely by spraying petroleum oil once a year from 1980 to 1985, by not spraying insecticide in 1986, and spraying only germicide in 1987. The arrowhead scale population remained much lower level at which citrus trees begin to wither when petroleum oil was sprayed, whereas it rapidly increased and began to wither trees during the years without spraying petroleum oil. The Indian wax scale population rapidly increased only during a 2‐year period and then declined. Although the infection level of the sooty mold was unusually high on the trees where the density of the scale was high, this pathogen did little damage to citrus trees. The population of the red wax scale gradually increased throughout the census period but did not reach the level at which citrus trees begin to be damaged. Other pests also caused negligible damages to citrus trees. The results indicated that the pesticide‐reduced pest management system which was proposed by Inoue and Ohgushi (1976, 1977) is valid for the prevention of the outbreak of the arrowhead scale, and that is has the sufficient control efficiency for the other pests in citrus orchards.