Plant oils as oviposition deterrents against winterform females of pear psylla, Cacopsylla pyri (L.) (Hemiptera: Psyllidae)

Abstract

Oviposition deterrents have potential to prevent arthropod pest infestations making the crop habitat less or no favorable for pests to lay eggs and even to settle. In this study, seed oils of maize, safflower, rapeseed and castor oil plant were evaluated in the field between years of 2015 and 2016 for their oviposition deterrent activity against winterform females of pear psylla, Cacopsylla pyri (L.) (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), the most important insect pest of pears in Turkey. All the oils were used at three different concentrations, 1, 1.5 and 2 L/100 L water including 0.01% Tween-20 for a good mixture and applied at the dormant period (just before the first eggs were deposited by overwintered females). Only one application was made each year. Oviposition deterrency was evaluated by counts of eggs deposited by overwintered females of the pest on treated dormant shoots during the sampling times 3, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after application. The results showed that significant reductions in total numbers of eggs laid by winterform females were observed in all the oil-treated plots compared with the controls sprayed with tap water including Tween-20 (0.01%). Safflower and castor oils exhibited 100% oviposition deterrent activity at all the concentrations during the 3 weeks period in both years. Even after 4 weeks, the deterrency of these oils was higher than 70%. In the control plots, the first eggs were deposited by overwintered females within 3 days after application in both years. These findings suggest that these oils are promising oviposition deterrents against winterform females of C. pyri.