Pest vs. predator communities in citrus orchards under ecological conditions of district Toba Tek Singh (Punjab), Pakistan
Naureen Rana, Saira Javed, Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, Ushna Bashir Rana, Abid Ali, Sadia Maalik and Somia Afzal
Kinnow (Citrus nobilis) and orange (Citrus reticulata) are fruits having significant economic, cultural and social impact throughout the world. Orchards of these fruits serve as a host of many insects but interaction of citrus host with insect fauna varies from pest to predator that show symbiotic relationship and ultimately lowers fruit production. The present study was conducted from July to December, 2015 to record occurrence and interaction of pest vs. predator communities along the temperature gradient on citrus orchards under the ecological conditions of district Toba Tek Singh (Punjab), Pakistan. The abundance of pest was found to increase rapidly in late July, and reached its first peak in late-August, then followed by the second peak in mid-October among orange orchards. Few numbers of natural enemy species were discovered and recorded highest in September in association with pest species. Among kinnow orchards, pest abundance was found to increase in late-August, than followed by the second peak in early October: Dalbulus maidis (Cicadellidae) was recorded as an extraordinary contributing pest species. However population densities of natural enemies were highest from September to October and lowest densities were recorded in early July and in late-December. In case of natural enemies, Raphidopalapa foveicollis (Chrysomelidae) was recorded abundantly. Findings from this study suggested that under field conditions, various indigenous natural enemies (predators of different sizes) may act for suppression of pest species to great extent but they were quite low in number. However, results of analysis of variance regarding pest and predator densities among both orchards were not significant (F = 2.20; P = 0.1601 “orange†and F = 1.33; P = 0.2686 “Kinnowâ€).
Naureen Rana, Saira Javed, Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, Ushna Bashir Rana, Abid Ali, Sadia Maalik, Somia Afzal. Pest vs. predator communities in citrus orchards under ecological conditions of district Toba Tek Singh (Punjab), Pakistan. J Entomol Zool Stud 2017;5(6):481-489.