Al-Fwaeer, M.; I. Abu-Obaid; F. Al-Zyoud, A. Abo-Alosh and M. Halaybeh

2014

Population dynamics of the hibiscus mealybug Maconellicoccus hirsutus
(Hom., Pseudococcidae) and its parasitoid on guava trees in Madaba-Jordan.

International Journal of Agriculture and Forestry 4: 171-177.

The hibiscus mealybug, Maconellicoccus hirsutus Green (Hom., Pseudococcidae) is distributed throughout the world, and attacks a wide spectrum of host plants including Guava. M. hirsutus causes direct and indirect damages to the Guava plants. However, no attention has been paid on the effect of abiotic and biotic factors on M. hirsutus in Jordan. Therefore, the present study aimed at investigating the population dynamics of M. hirsutus on guava taken into account the effect of direction, time, temperature and associated parasitoid throughout the 2009/2010 growing season in Madaba District - Jordan. The results indicated that M. hirsutus nymphs have three peaks. The adult females appeared in early February with very low numbers, while the most presence of the females occurred in mid July. Males appeared also in early January and then in late July and early August. The highest number of the parasitoid, Anagyrus sp. was reported during February. According to the direction, adults were significantly the highest in North followed by West and South. In regards to all stages (eggs, nymphs and adults), the pest was significantly found more in East (391 individuals), followed by West (359 individuals) and South (350 individuals). In the other hand, the parasitoid individuals were significantly higher in North and West, followed by South. There was a positive and significant correlation between the number of M. hirsutus nymphs and the parasitoid, Anagyrus sp. (r = 0.444, P = 0.039), and M. hirsutus adults and Anagyrus sp. (r = 0.403, P = 0.050). Moderate mean temperature and RH seem to be favorable for the pest, since most of nymphs and adults occurred during these conditions. It is to be mentioned that the infestation by the pest reached up to 98%. In conclusions, the current study provides basic information about the population dynamic of the pest and its associated parasitoid, and this will help positively in controlling the pest in Jordan successfully.