Racionalización de las aplicaciones de productos fitosanitarios para el control de Aonidiella aurantii Maskell (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) en cítiricos.

Abstract

En la realización de esta tesis han colaborado de uno u otro modo gran número de instituciones y personas a los que quiero expresar mi gratitud, ya que su colaboración ha sido vital para que la tesis haya llegado a buen puerto. En primer lugar quiero expresar mi agradecimiento a las fuentes de financiación, siempre tan importantes y sin las cuales el desarrollo de este trabajo habría sido imposible. Primero quiero agradecer al Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias la concesión de la beca predoctoral, que me permitió embarcarme en esta aventura. También quiero agradecer a la empresa Dow AgroSciences Ibérica S.A., por financiar parte de los ensayos realizados en la tesis, y al Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, por la financiación concedida a través de proyectos de investigación relacionados con la misma, como son los proyectos Optidosa (Título: 'Reducción del uso de productos fitosanitarios en cultivos arbóreos. Optimización de la dosis de aplicación en tratamientos mecanizados'. Referencia: AGL2007-66093-C04-03/AGR) y Safespray (Título: 'Estrategias integrales para una utilización de fitosanitarios segura y eficaz'. Referencia: AGL2010-22304-C04-01). Gracias a estos proyectos he conocido y colaborado con otros grupos de investigación,

Volume Rate Adjustment for Pesticide Applications against Aonidiella aurantii in Citrus: Validation of CitrusVol in the Growers’ Practice

“…This reduction of volume implied a reduction in the coverage in some parts of the tree canopy mainly in the top but it was enough to control the number of A. aurantii scales per fruit at harvest outside and inside the canopy. These results are in line with previous studies where the reduction of spray volume up to optimal volume, did not decrease the effectiveness of the application against A. aurantii [20][21][22][23]49] and other citrus pests such as citrus mealybug Planococcus citri Risso [20], citricola scale Coccus pseudomagnoliarum (Kuwana) [24], Asian citrus psyllid Diaphorina citri Kuwayama and citrus leafminer Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton [25], and citrus rust mite Phyllocoptruta oleivora (Ashmead) [26,27]. The mean number of scales per fruit was very low in most of the cases, in spite of the number of males trapped per day, which showed maximum values between 100 and 800.…”

“…Therefore, the most important is to get a minimum coverage in the area of the canopy where the target pest is located, increasing the efficiency of the applications. In the case of A. aurantii applications must reach the inner part of the tree, and the minimum coverage to be achieved depends on the PPP and the pest stage, and in general terms, it should be between 20-40% [21]. In this study, the reduction of the spray volume did not greatly affected the distribution, because it was observed that, regardless the spray volume used (conventional or adjusted), a satisfactory spray distribution was achieved, and in both cases it followed the common pattern got with air blast sprayers in citrus: less coverage on the top and inside the canopy and on the underside of leaves, which is the surface least exposed to the application [50][51][52].…”

“…Since A. aurantii inhabits the inner part of citrus trees and overwinter in wood parts, high water volume rates are conventionally used to reach these areas of the tree and control the scale. However, several works have demonstrated that the volume of water sprayed per unit ground area (L/ha) can be reduced without compromising the efficacy of the treatment not only against A. aurantii [20][21][22][23], but also against other insect pests [20,24,25], mites [26][27][28], and fungal and bacterial diseases [29,30]. This reduction of water volume is important because it reduces the risk of drift and runoff and, therefore, the risk of insecticide contamination in non-target organisms of different trophic levels.…”