Sustainable Management of Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) and Citrus Production

Sustainable Management of Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) and Citrus Production

Report Date: 07/20/2019
Project: 18-052C   Year: 2019
Category: ACP Vector
Author: Jawwad Qureshi
Sponsor: Citrus Research and Development Foundation

This project is focused on developing Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) management programs for conventional and organic growers. Programs include sprays of organic or conventional insecticides alone or combined and with use of biological control. Studies were initiated in a 15-acre block of mature Valencia orange in the Gulf region. After the harvest in spring 2019, the experimental block was treated with insecticide Portal at 32 oz per acre rate to bring the psyllid populations to the same level throughout the block before dividing into different management programs. Four Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs focused on controlling the ACP were initiated. These included 1) conventional and organic insecticides plus biological control 2) organic insecticides and Horticultural Mineral Oil (HMO) plus biological control, 3) conventional insecticides plus biological control, 4) HMO plus biological control and 5) Only biological control program.  Programs 1 and 3 received Apta 17 oz per acre rate and program 2 and 4 received HMO at 3% of the total application volume which was 100 gallons per acre.  A total of 360 tap samples were conducted to detect ACP adults and predators and 694 shoots examined for infestation with ACP immatures. Psyllid adults averaged 0.3 per tap sample in the program 5 where no insecticide or HMO sprays were conducted compared to a range of 0-0.06 adults per tap sample across programs 1-4, showing a significant reduction of 80-100%. Shoot infestation with ACP immatures averaged less than 10% between programs 1-4 significantly less than 40% in program 5. Spiders averaged 0.03-0.08 per tap sample and ants averaged 0.06-0.81 per tap sample across all programs. Postdoctoral associate and temporary assistant were hired.  


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