Determination of application time and concentration of mineral oil against Pulvinaria aurantii (Hemiptera: Coccidae) in northern Iran

To determine the most appropriate concentration and application time of mineral oil against Pulvinaria aurantii Cockerell, the reaction rate of egg hatching and the emergence of mobile cushion citrus instars to different concentrations of mineral oil in the laboratory conditions with a temperature of 4±25°C, relative humidity 5±75 percent and 12 hours of light every 24 hours over four days after applying the treatments was studied. In this study, four different concentrations of mineral oil including 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8% (namely 200, 400, 600 and 800 ml /100 liter water) and control (water without mineral oil) were selected as treatments and tested on the samples of citrus cushion eggs in various stages of hatching (10, 30, 50, 70 and 90%). The results showed that the most appropriate time to control is when 50 percent of citrus cushion eggs are hatching and the best mineral oil concentration is 0.77%