Integrated inhibition of citrus leafminer, Phyllocnistis citrella in Mazandaran Province, Iran

In this research, the effect of irrigation management on the production of new shoots and leaves produced by citrus plants, and damage rate caused by citrus leafminer, Phyllocnistis citrella was investigated. The study was performed in a completely randomized design with 3 treatment and 5 replicates for two consecutive years (2014-2015) in Besat citrus orchard of Sari Fajr Company. Treatment included control (without irrigation), conventional irrigation and irrigating based on water requirements (WaterCrop). The number of shoots and leaves produced and damaged by P. citrella in each treatment were counted from the beginning to the end of the growing season and then compared statistically. According to the obtained results, during sampling after the leaf miner emerged, the maximum number of shoots produced and infected related to conventional irrigation. The mean leaves produced by each plant in WaterCrop, conventional and control treatments was 111a, 108.3a, and 51.7b, respectively, which of these, 2, 26.5 and 3.5 of leaves was produced at a time that P. citrella was active and damaged the leaves to 1.71, 21.6, and 4.31%, respectively. The results of this study showed that irrigation is effective in germinating and producing the leaves of citrus trees. As it is clear, over the year, the maximum and minimum leaves before and after emerging the pest have been produced by the trees that were irrigated by WaterCrop method, which because the lower number of the leaves produced during periods when the pest is active, these trees suffered the lowest damage without the use of common pesticides