Abstract

VALAREZO BELTRON, Carlos Oswaldo; MENDOZA VARGAS, José Javier; JULCA OTINIANO, Alberto  and  RODRIGUEZ BERRIO, Alexander. Population dynamics of key lime pest insects in two agroecological zones of Manabí, Ecuador. RIIARn [online]. 2023, vol.10, n.3, pp.64-73. ISSN 2409-1618.  https://doi.org/10.53287/aade4894uy19y.

Lemon cultivation is very important in the world economy, its production is limited by pest attacks. The objective of the research is to study the population dynamics of pest insects of subtle lemon in two agro-ecological zones of Manabí, Ecuador. The study was carried out between August/2018 and July/2019, on farms, one for the town of Colón (Longitude: O80º24'47'', Latitude: S1º6'47'') and for the town of Riochico (Longitude: O80º24'59'', Latitude: S0º59'42''). The population dynamics of pest insects was determined for one year in an eight-year-old lemon producing farm, for the districts of Colón and Riochico where evaluations were carried out once a month. The methodology used was to select 10 trees at random, from each tree a certain number of leaves were evaluated, this allowed establishing populations of each of these pests (Castaño, 1996; Cañarte 2001). The population of the pest insects Phyllocnistis citrella, Aleurothrixus floccosus, Toxoptera aurantii and climatological factors (temperature, relative humidity and precipitación) of the analyzed areas were studied. It was concluded that the largest populations of the phytophages Toxoptera aurantii and Aleurothrixus floccosus were concentrated between the months of June to December corresponding to the dry season, with Phyllocnistis citrella the months of greatest capture were between January and May, during the rainy season. The conditions of low relative humidity, low precipitation and temperature favored the development of A. floccosus and T. aurantii. Conditions of high relative humidity, abundant precipitation and warm temperature contributed to the development of P. citrella. The vegetative states are related to the greater sensitivity of the crop to these pests, helping to determine the most opportune moments to carry out treatments and be able to control the damage.

Keywords : citrus; control; pesticide; stages; population.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )