27/04/2010. EFFICACY OF NATURSCROP FORTE AND ROT IN THE CONTROL OF RED SPIDER MITE IN AUBERGINE.
R+D+I Department
Laboratorios Econatur
P. Michitte*
Introduction
T. Urticae is extremely small mite, barely visible with the naked eye as reddish spots on leaves and stems. It is a really polyphagous plague; it can feed on hundreds of plants, including most vegetables and ornamentals crops. It lays its eggs on the leaves, and it poses a threat to host plants by sucking cell contents from the leaves cell by cell, can significantly reduce the photosynthetic capability of plants and can cause greatly un reduction in their production of nutrients, sometimes even killing the plants. Besides, it can spread plant viruses. High temperature and dry environments cause the development of this plague.
Methods and materials
The tests were carried out in a greenhouse with aubergine organic production placed in the province of Cordoba, really infected with red spider.
The treatments, with three repetitions each one, consisted on:
1. Naturscrop Forte: 3mL/L.
2. Naturscrop Rot 4: mL/L
Two applications were carried: the first one, on the 26th of May 2009 and the next one on the 3rd of June. Both were carried out early in the morning, in order to avoid the highest insolation time and temperature and to extend the persistence of the extracts.
They were applied with constant manual pressure knapsack, trying to cover the entire foliar surface with all solutions, but not reaching the dripping point.
The first count was made the previous day to the treatment, and then, the following days 1st, 5th and 10th June. These consisted on counting the number of individual by leaf. 3 leaves per plant and 10 plants per treatment were evaluated.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In the following table, the individual number of T.Urticae found by aubergine leaf in the observation days is shown.
|
DATE
|
INDIVIDUAL LEAF AVERAGE / (Tetranychus urticae)
|
|
|
FORTE
|
ROT
|
|
|
25/05/2009
|
62 ± 17
|
60 ± 15
|
|
26/05/2009
|
TREATMENT 1
|
|
|
01/06/2009
|
19 ± 7
|
31 ± 9
|
|
03/06/2009
|
TREATMENT 2
|
|
|
05/06/2009
|
5± 2
|
14 ± 5
|
|
10/05/2009
|
4 ± 2
|
11± 4
|
Both phyto-fortifier treatments produced a significant decrease (above 80%) in the spider population. This percentage decrease is schematized in the next graph.
Even though in the lands which were trated with Naturscrop Forte a reduction of the population of T.Urticae was observed, in the treatments with Rot it was observed a higher presence of natural enemies of the plant. Considering these results, it is recommended to use both phyto-fortifiers in alternate way, to obtain the best results and to respect to maximum the ecological crop balance.