Pests of Crimean pear gardens

S.Y. Tsiupka, E.B. Balykina, L.P. Yagodinskaya, D.A. Korzh, T.S. Rybareva
In the Republic of Crimea, Pyrus communis L. is the second (after apple) in economic value of the fruit crop. However, starting from 2014, yields declined, due to the negative impact on the pear of the phytophagous families Psylloidea and Acari. The pest complex of pome fruits, consisting of more than 100 species, was described from 1940 to 1980 by A.M. Lazarev, V.I. Mitrofanov, V.P. Vasilyev and I.Z. Livshits. Since the 1980s, a number of significant changes have taken place in the species and quantity composition of phyto- and entomoacariphages. The reason for this was the use of highly toxic insecticides, from the group of phosphorus and organochlorine compounds, as well as the widespread introduction of new planting systems for gardens, from trefoil-dwarf ones with a flattened crown to meadow on super-dwarfing rootstocks. Thus, due to the almost total absence of interspecific competition, the pest of the Crimean pear agrocenosis since 1980 is the pear-shaped gall mite (Eriophyes pyri Pgst.) and the hawthorn mite (Amphitetranychus viennensis Zacher.) together with the most harmful phytophage, pear psylla (Psylla pyri L.). It was established that in 2013 and 2016, P. pyri developed in five generations, and in 2014 and 2015, there were six generations, with the population densities exceeding economic threshold of damage 5-6 times annually. Since 2012, A. viennensis massively occurred in commercial pear plantations, developing throughout the growing season with 7-9 generations. The pear-shaped gall mite, E. pyri, had three generations per year, damaging the leaves, buds, and fruits with the formation of, round plaque-shaped galls. The degree of damage in certain years reached 70% of the leaves, with young plantings suffering more severely.
Tsiupka, S.Y., Balykina, E.B., Yagodinskaya, L.P., Korzh, D.A. and Rybareva, T.S. (2020). Pests of Crimean pear gardens. Acta Hortic. 1269, 255-260
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1269.34
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1269.34
pear, garden agrocenosis, phytoacariphages, entomoacariphages
English

Acta Horticulturae