Effects of Liquid Soap and Dishwashing Detergent on Pistachio Trees

Abstract

The common pistachio psyllid, <em>Agonoscena</em> <em>pistaciae</em> Burckhardt and Lauterer (Hemiptera: Aphalaridae) is the key pest of pistachio trees in Iran. Nowadays, pistachio growers use detergents widely to control this pest in pistachio orchards. Consequently, the study was carried out to investigate the effects of applying liquid soap (Jonobgan^®) 3500 ppm, dishwashing detergent (Rika^®) 3500 ppm, and conventional insecticides (spirotetramat (Movento^®) 300 ppm and phosalon (Zolon^®) 2500 ppm, periodically on some characteristics of “Fandoghi" pistachio trees, including sodium and potassium contents of leaves and bud abscission rate over three years. The field experiments were done in a randomized complete block design with three treatments and three replications in Rafsanjan. The results showed that the application of liquid soap and dishwashing detergent caused no significant variation in sodium and potassium contents of leaves and bud abscission compared to other conventional insecticides. Therefore, detergents can be used safely to control pistachio psyllid.