Comparison of the toxicity of three botanical insecticides and two chemical insecticides on Agonoscena pistaciae Burckhardt and Lauterer (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) in laboratory and field conditions.

ABSTRACT: The common psyllid pistachio (CPP) Agonoscena pistaciae is one of the key pests of pistachios in Iran. The effect of three botanical insecticides, Palizin® (Eucalyptus extract), Sirinol® (garlic extract) and Tondexir® (pepper extract) on the nymph of CPP has been investigated with randomized complete block design experiments in laboratory and field conditions. Two chemical insecticides, acetamiprid (Mospilan©) and hexaflumuron (Consult©) were used. The mortality was recorded at 2, 7, 14 and 21 days post-treatment. The highest mortality was obtained by Palizin® with 84.93%, then Sirinol at 82.71% and the lowest mortality with Tondexir® at 80.74%. The LC50 and LC90 of Tondexir®, Sirinol® and Palizin® were 721.58, 1013, 750.82, 3501, 3701 and 3734 respectively, consistent with the probit analysis. There were significant differences between the LC50 of Sirinol and two others (Tondexir® and Palizin®) at the 95% confidence interval. There were significant differences between the toxicity of botanical insecticides (Palizin®, Sirinol® and Tondexir®) and chemical insecticides (acetamiprid and hexaflumoron) in field experiments.