A case study of insect pest complex of citrus and their management at Keren, Eritrea, and a note on their natural enemies

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to record the infestation of insect pests in citrus orchard during November 2014 to April 2015 at Keren, Eritrea and to control key insect pests with botanicals or chemical and document the natural enemies’ situation. The present study recorded the infestation of woolly whitefly (Aleurothrixus sp.), cottony cushion scale (Icerya purchasi), citrus leaf miner (Phyllocnistis sp.), diaspine black scale (Parlatoria sp.) and brown scale (Coccus sp.). To control the high incidence of Aleurothrixus sp. and I. purchasi, field evaluation of locally prepared botanicals (5% neem seed kernel extract, 5% balanites kernel extract) and imidacloprid 17.8% SL were carried out. Overall results indicate the effectiveness of these botanicals and chemical insecticide in managing the pests at three weeks post-foliar spray. Surprisingly no natural enemy was observed which could check the growing populations of insect pests.