EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT PLANT EXTRACTS AGAINST CITRUS PSYLLA (Diaphorina citri KUWAYAMA)

Bioassay was conducted to compare the efficacy of different botanical insecticides against adult citrus psylla (Diaphorina citri) during the year 2013 at Agriculture Research Institute, (Tarnab) Peshawar, Pakistan. Eight plant poisons viz. Datura alba 10%, Datura alba 20%, Calotropis procera 10%, Calotropis procera 20%, Parthenium hysterophorus 10%, Parthenium hysterophorus 20%, Azadirachta indica 10%, Azadirachta indica 20%, and one synthetic insecticide (Lorsban) used as a standard were selected for the study. Data were recorded at three weeks interval. Population density of citrus psylla was recorded as number of adults per branch. Overall mean No. of adults were minimum in Lorsban (11.13) followed by C. procera 20% (12.88), while on control maximum population was observed as 41.44 adults branch^-1. In the plant poisons, possessing offensive properties, fewer adults were observed as compared to control, revealed the effect of botanicals repellency against citrus pest. Calotropis procera 20% and Lorsban were found to be the most effective treatments as compared to the other treatments. However, all the plant extracts offered statistically comparable control with Lorsban.