The Citrus Online Monitoring Network, launched under the Bayer Lecture Series of the Technical University of Valencia, shows how the most important pests of citrus have evolved and how there has been a decrease in some of them, especially the black aphid, the California red scale and red spider. This Monitoring Network controls the evolution of pests such as the California red scale, spider mites, aphids, white lemon lice, thrips and leafminer. It also provides information about the red mite, mealybug, Chinese white Caparreta, grooved scales, Eutetranychus mite, cottony whitefly, the presence of ants, green mosquitoes, lemon mite yolks and moths on the flowers of the lemon tree.
Thanks to this Monitoring Network we know that the evolution of aphids was similar in 2011 and in 2012, reaching its peak between April and May when 60% of the crops infected. The data provided by the Online Monitoring Network also reveal a reduction of black aphid, which in 2011 amounted to 20% of infected shoots and in 2012 accounted for less than 10%.
The evolution of a new plague of thrips Pezothrips Kellyanus and how damages occur in the month of May and the first half of June has also been recorded. Thanks to the Monitoring Network we know that the final damage level percentage of fruits with orange symptoms was 6% in 2011 and 5% around 2012.
Online Monitoring can follow the California red scale's process of invasion as the fruit grows during Summer. This allowed us to see how the invasion came much earlier in 2011 than in 2012.
The spider mite is another pest that has been monitored, and we have seen how the plague has decreased by more than 10% between both years, from 40% of the branches being affected in 2011 to less than 30% in 2012.
Data is updated on a weekly basis.
These are some of the data from the Monitoring Network, whose full report is updated every week and can be found on Bayer Agro Servicios' portal.
This initiative, launched by Bayer CropScience and integrated into Bayer CropScience's Lecture Series, is a response to one of the priorities set by the European Union for the implementation of integrated pest management that requires the establishment of scientifically sound warning, detection and early diagnosis systems.
Both the European Union, as well as the rules in Spain, require that harmful organisms be tracked with field observations and warning systems.
Thus, the Online Monitoring Network of citrus offers detailed information on the plant's phenology. There is a weekly report on the average number of shoots, flowers and fruits per tree, as well as the average diameter of the developing fruit, separately considering three species of citrus: orange, clementine and lemon.
It also provides accurate information and details the stages of the California red scale in order to perform treatments at the optimum moment.
Source: Efe
