Comparative study between biological and chemical control programs of certain sweet pepper pests in greenhouses

S A El Arnaouty,Mona N Kortam,A H El-Heneidy,Amal I Afifi,I H Heikal

doi:10.1186/s41938-020-00226-z

S A El Arnaouty, Mona N Kortam + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s41938-020-00226-z

Copy DOI

Abstract

Sweet pepper is an important vegetable crop in Egypt. It is cultivated for local consumption and exportation. The crop is attacked by a large number of pest species such as Western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Genn.), the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychu surticae Koch, and the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hubner). The present study was conducted on the sweet pepper cultivated in greenhouses, during the winter plantation 2016/17 in a commercial farm located at Berkash district, Giza Governorate, Egypt. Three control programs were practiced: the first used biological control agents (BC), the predators, Orius albidipennis (Reuter), Macrolophus caliginosus (Wagner), Chrysoperla carnea (Steph.), and the egg parasitoid, Trichogramma euproctidis (Girault); the second was sprayed by the recommended chemical control program of the farm (CC); and the third was untreated as a control. Obtained results revealed that the BC program was the most significant one for controlling the complex of sweet pepper pests. Also, applying the BC program resulted to a high yield of sweet pepper production (35.06% increasing than the control).

Highlights

Sweet pepper is one of the important vegetable crops in Egypt that cultivated for local consumption and exportation (El-Laithy et al 2013)
In chemical treated greenhouse (CCG), 3 pesticides (Match 5% EC, Radiant 12% SC, and Alverde 24% SC) were applied against S. exigua started from the 3rd week after transplanted; 3 pesticides (Vertimec 1.8% EC, Oberon 24% SC, and Kanemite 15% SC) were applied against T. urticae started from the 5th week post cultivation
In the biological control greenhouse (BCG), the bioagents were released on biweekly bases

Summary

Introduction

Sweet pepper is one of the important vegetable crops in Egypt that cultivated for local consumption and exportation (El-Laithy et al 2013). The land area devoted to greenhouses production of color sweet peppers has been increased substantially over the past decade. In Egypt, it reached 400 ha with total plant-houses area of 11,300 ha (El Arnaouty et al 2018). Pepper production is affected by different environmental and management systems, where it ranged from 5 to 28.8 kg/m2 and export percentage ranged from 50 to 90%. Sweet pepper is attacked by a large number of pests from seedling stage to mature plants. Kortam (2019) recorded 4 major pest species that limit the production and have forced farmers to use chemical insecticides

Methods

Results

Conclusion