The Effects of Citral Soap and Citral Activator of Nonionic Surfactants on Spirotetramat Insecticide against Agonoscena pistaciae in Rafsanjan

Agonoscena pistaciae is a major pest of pistachio orchards that reduces the crop quality and quantity. Hence, to control this pest, gardeners use different insecticides every year.

In this study, the lethal effects of spirotetramat with some non-ionic surfactants, including the citral soap and the citral activator at the concentrations of 120, 180, and 240ppm of the soap, and at the concentrations of 500, 1000, and 2000ppm of the activatoras well as their effects on A. pistaciae samples taken on days 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21 after spraying, were studied.

The effects of each treatment, using the Henderson-Tilton's formula, showed that the number of nymphs decreased in different treatments on days 1 and 7 after spraying, and the results of different concentrations showed that with an increase in the concentration, the rate of mortality increased; with the greatest effect exerted by the concentration of 240ppm of the citral soap, after one week.

According to the preliminary results obtained from this section, it can be concluded that the citral soap can be a good choice for the pistachio pest control in pistachio gardens, due to its favorable effects on pistachio seedlings and its satisfactory performance in combination with spirotetramat in producing a healthy product, reducing consumption costs, reducing environmental hazards, exerting impacts on natural enemies, and minimizing the use of chemical pesticides.