The Toxicity Investigation of the Botanical Insecticides on the Common Pistachio Psyllid, Agonoscena pistaciae Burckhardt and Lauterer (Hemiptera: Psyllidae)

Abstract

The common pistachio psyllid, Agonoscena pistaciae, is the key pest of pistachio trees in Iran. Both nymphs and adults suck sap from leaves and reduce plant vigor and yield, increase the number of blank, half growth kernel and unsplit nuts and also cause defoliation and buds drop. Detrimental effects of chemical synthetic insecticides and the resistance of common psyllid pistachio to them and the effect of three botanical insecticides, Sirinol (garlic extract), Tondexir (pepper extract) and Palizin (eucalyptus extract), were investigated as a randomized complete block design experiments in field conditions. The sampling was done 2, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after treatment. The results showed that the highest mortality in Palizin treatment occurred after 2 and 7 days. The sampling of 14, 21 and 28 days post-treatment were showed the highest and lowest mortality in Sirinol and Tondexir treatments, respectively. Generally, there were no significant differences between Sirinol and Palizin 28 days post-treatment, but these compounds showed significant differences with Tondexir. As a result, these botanical insecticides are suitable in integrated pest management of common pistachio psyllid.