The Population Abundance of the Mealybug Species Infesting Pomegranate Trees and their Associated Insect Predators in Mansoura Region, Egypt | ||||
| Journal of Plant Protection and Pathology | ||||
| Article 3, Volume 8, Issue 1, January 2017, Page 15-19 PDF (749.66 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/jppp.2017.46132 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Author | ||||
| Hagar S. S. Awadalla* | ||||
| Economic Entomology Dep. Faculty of Agriculture, Damietta University, Egypt | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Experiments were carried out in the experimental farm belonging to Faculty of Agriculture, MansouraUniversity during the two successive years 2014 and 2015 to study the population abundance of mealybug species attacking pomegranate trees and their associated predatory insects. The seychelles fluted scale Icerya seychellarum (Westwood) recorded the highest peaks of abundance during the period of study and represented by 367 and 568 individuals/sample followed by the citrus mealybug Planococcus citri Risso which represented by 192 and 242 individuals, respectively. Meanwhile, the cottony- cushion scale Icerya purchasi (Maskell) recorded the lowest peaks of abundance during the two years of study and represented by 46 and 29 individuals followed by the Egyptian fluted mealybug Icerya aegyptiaca (Douglus) which represented by 58 and 98 individuals, respectively. Vidalia beetle Rodolia cardinalis (Mulsant) recorded the highest peaks during the two successive years and represented by 42 and 57 individuals followed by the green lacewing Chrysoperla carnea (Steph.) and represented by 32 and 29 individuals, respectively. Meanwhile, coccinellid predator Nephus includens (Kirsch) ranked last category, and represented by 12 and 16 insects in the two years, respectively. Statistical analysis between the four seasons for the mealybug species revealed that a highly significant differences during the two years. I. seychellarum recorded the highest average number 110.3 and 158.6 individuals/sample, followed by P. citri 74.2 and 87.9 individuals while I. purchasi came in the last category with an average of 9.4 and 6.0 individuals, during the two successive years, respectively. Regarding to the associated insect predators, R. cardinalis ranked the first category and represented by 60.6 and 69.4% followed by C. carnea 30.4 and 22.7 % while N. includens came in the last category with 9.0 and 7.9% during the two successive years, respectively. Predator-prey ratio was the best during the period from July tell December and ranged between 1: 4.7 and 1: 10.6 during the two years. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Mealybug species; Insect predators; Pomegrenate; Population abundance; Predator-prey ratio | ||||
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