During an inventory study of Psylloidea species carried out in Tunisia, the alien psyllid, Macrohomotoma gladiata Kuwayama, 1908 (Hemiptera Psylloidea Homotomidae), recently recorded in the country, has been detected on ornamental Ficus microcarpa, in public and private parks and gardens in many locations of the urban areas of the governorates of Tunis and Ariana, showing a fast spread in the area. This psyllid species has been observed causing damages and vegetative disorders to Ficus trees, especially white wax secretion, leaf wrapping and honeydew excretion on leaves and twigs. The number of infested trees increased from our first observations in late 2020 to early 2021. An Anthocoris sp. (Hemiptera Anthocoridae) has been observed to naturally prey on M. gladiata in many investigated locations.
The Aphididae family contains many polyphagous species. In the current study, four species were identified in an organic Citrus orchard in Northeastern Tunisia. These species are Aphis gossypii, A. spiraecola, Macrosiphum euphorbiae, and Toxoptera aurantii. The most important and abundant species was A. gossypii followed respectively by A. spiraecola, M. euphorbiae, and T. aurantii. Monitoring species dynamic population showed that aphids began to occur since February and reached then high levels from March to May. Various structure and beta diversity indexes were calculated. The obtained results demonstrated that there was a high dominance of few or one species. The evenness index was high and had a significant positive correlation with the Berger-Parker index. The Equitability index was low. The richness index had a strong positive correlation with Margalef's richness index and the number of species. However, Menhinick's diversity index had a weak positive relationship with the Specific richness.
This study aims to evaluate and compare the efficiency of Basalt as foliar spray with two doses (1.5% and 3%), in the ground as a fertilizer (1.5%), and as a combined application (1.5%) compared to two botanical aqueous extracts of bitter orange (Citrus aurantium) and Nerium (Nerium oleander) (50g/l against Ceratitis Capitata and Phyllocnistis citrella in citrus orchard. Concerning C. capitata, results a repellent effect exerted by used products. Trapped adults mean number in all treated units significantly decreased after first treatment and was maintained at very significant low values compared with control. Regarding P. citrella, alive larvae population decreased considerably after first treatment and reached low values. Larvae mortality rates in treated plots were observed since the first day after first treatment. They increased lately till reaching mean values ranking between 80 and 100% one and two weeks after second treatment. Efficacy rates of basalt were about 60, 51 and 39% respectively for foliar applications at 3% and 1.5% and the combined application. Regarding plant extracts, they were about 50 and 56% respectively for Nerium and bitter orange. These results will help in planning integrated pest management in citrus orchard to control C. capitata and P. citrella in order to ovoid use of pesticides.
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