Ecological control of citrus pests primarily using predatory mites and the bio-rational pesticide matrine

ABSTRACT

Panonychus citri and Diaphorina citri are serious citrus pests (mites) in many countries. The predatory mite Neoseiulus cucumeris can prey on both P. citri and D. citri. It is necessary to develop a strategy using predatory mites and selective pesticides that can simultaneously control both pests effectively and sustainably. The toxicities of matrine and abamectin to P. citri, D. citri and N. cucumeris were evaluated in the laboratory. Matrine was highly lethal to D. citri and relatively less toxic to P. citri and N. cucumeris. Abamectin was relatively less toxic to D. citri. The results of the field trials demonstrated the ecological control strategy that combined the release of predatory mites and applications of four matrine sprays from June 2011 to November 2011, which provided better control over P. citri than pesticide applications alone with six sprays during the same period. It achieved similar control levels for D. citri. In Matrine + N. cucumeris orchard, the total number of spiders was significantly larger than that in the Pesticides Only orchard, but the total number of predatory mites was lower. It is inferred that primarily natural enemies and matrine together play a role in controlling citrus pests.

KEYWORDS:

• Panonychus citri
• Diaphorina citri
• predatory mite
• matrine
• ecological control

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to George Andrew Charles Beattie, H. M. Yan and S. S. Huang for their help.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Science and Technical project of Guangdong Province, China [grant number 2015A050502038], [grant number 2011B050400006]; Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province [grant number 2015A030310233]; Youth Foundation of Guangdong Academy of Sciences [grant number qnjj201502]; GDAS Special Project of Science and Technology Development [grant number 2017GDASCX-0107].