Evaluation of certain insect pests response to the application of several types of organic fertilizers on eggplant under rooftop cultivation conditions

Abstract

Compost and compost tea can be used to combat soil fertility problems by improving its physical, biological and chemical properties, in addition to their indirect effect in controlling pests.The present study showed that compost and compost tea showed significant effects on the tested insects [the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae Sulzer (Hemiptera: Aphididae), the pink hibiscus mealybug, Maconellicoccus hirsutus (Green) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), and the potato tuber moth, Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller) (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae)] infesting eggplant plants under rooftop conditions; where the inhibitory effects of compost and compost tea on the tested insects were highly significant effect, and significantly increased by the elapsed time after treatments application, unlike the pesticides, which demonstrated a direct effect after its application on the aforementioned pests.This makes both compost and compost tea promising methods that can be combined into an integrated framework with other control methods through integrated pest management (IPM) programs.