INTEGRATED CONTROL OF PEST AND MITES IN PEACH ORCHARDS

Integrated pest control is based on the monitoring and control of key pests noxious in the whole distributional area of the culture. Also other Arthropoda which locally or sporadically damage the peachtree must be fought on an integrated defensive level.

The key pests are the Lepidoptera Grapholitha molesta (Busck) and Anarsia lineatella Zell., the Aphid Myzus persicae (Sulzer), the scale insects Quadraspidiotus perniciosus (Comst.) and Pseudaulacaspis pentagona (Targ.), and in the areas with milder weather, the Ceratitis capitata (Wied.) (Diptera Trypetidae).

Among the mites the most frequently mentioned species is Panonychus ulmi (Koch).

The monitoring of the Lepidoptera is carried out by means of sexual pheromone traps.

The "economic threshold" adopted in Northern Italy for G. molesta is 30 males captured in a week time by a three-trap station. The threshold for A. lineatella is 20 males captured in a week time by a three-trap station.

As far as the Aphids are concerned, a visual control is carried out, either to determine the percentage of the infested organs, or to calculate the attack index. The scale insects have peculiar parasites which, in different surroundings, accomplish an effective control action.

The mite P. ulmi infests especially peachtree cultures subject to a strong chemical treatment. Here the most commonly adopted threshold is 50–60% of leaves with mobile life on them.

The diffusion of nectarines has necessitated further studies on the vulnerability of the fruit.

The latest tendencies in the integrated pest control aim not only at working out previsional forecasting models concerning the developing population of noxious Arthropodes, but also at researching resistant varieties and at studying the influences caused on Phytophagouses by cultural operations.