Mating Disruption of the Olive Moth Prays oleae (Bernard) in Olive Groves Using Aerosol Dispensers

The olive moth (OM), Prays oleae (Bern.) (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae), is a major olive grove pest worldwide; however, until now, very few studies have investigated the effectiveness of mating disruption (MD) techniques against this pest. Experiments were carried out for two successive years (2019 and 2020) in three different olive groves in Andalucía (Southern Spain) to evaluate mating disruption’s efficacy in controlling the OM from the first to the third generation. The effectiveness of MD formulations against the three generations of OM was assessed by determining the percentage of infested olive fruits, the reduction of pheromone trap catches, and the number of affected inflorescences in both MD-treated and untreated control olive groves. The number of release points (one or two aerosol devices per ha) was also evaluated. In all years and trials, the mean number of males caught in traps placed in the MD-treated plots was significantly lower than untreated sites. Mating disruption registered a high suppression of male captures (>75%) in treated plots for two consecutive seasons. Concerning infested olive fruits, substantial reductions (about 80%) were observed in the MD plots of locations B and C, and a reduction of about 40% was detected in location A, compared to the control plot. Results showed that the installation of two aerosol devices/ha reduced fruit damage below 20% of infested olive fruits except for one site where a reduction of about 71% in the MD plot was recorded in 2019. Although few significant differences were associated with OM male catches and infested olive fruits between plots treated with one aerosol/ha and two aerosols/ha in most of the comparisons, significant differences in the number of olive inflorescences infested by P. oleae were found, suggesting a similar performance between the two tested aerosol densities. Results of two-year field trials in Andalucía demonstrated the potential of Mister P X841 aerosol devices as an effective tool for controlling the olive moth, P. oleae.

Chassis Design of Tomato Picking Robot in the Greenhouse

At present, the artificial fruit picking cost is high, the fruit damage rate is high, and the efficiency is low, so the greenhouse picking robot emerges as the times’ demand. Therefore, this paper designs a kind of a chassis system of greenhouse picking robots. This paper mainly designed and simulates the chassis mechanical system, electrical system, and basic motion control algorithm from three aspects. Finally, the prototype of the chassis system of the picking robot in the greenhouse is completed and the chassis system is debugged, which proves that it has the characteristics of adaptability to the greenhouse environment, strong universality, and strong expansibility.

Efficacy and Phytotoxicity Assessment of Successive Application of Methyl Bromide and Cold Treatment on Export Strawberry Fruits

Recently, spotted wing Drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, is globally prevalent and causes agricultural losses to many fruits. To export Korean strawberry, methyl bromide fumigation is required to remove D. suzukii infestations, but Korean strawberry farmers are worried about fruit damage because methyl bromide can cause phytotoxicity on fresh commodities. In this report, we assessed the efficacy and phytotoxicity of single and successive application of methyl bromide and cold treatment on an export variety of strawberry to reduce fruit damage. The currently recommended dosage of methyl bromide, 40 g/m3 for 3 h at 18 °C, was enough to control all stages of D. suzukii without phytotoxicity. A dosage of 20 g/m3 of methyl bromide treatment for 3 h, followed by 1 d of cold (0 °C) treatment, showed 100% mortality in all growth stages of D. suzukii without fruit damage. Successive application of methyl bromide and cold treatment shows potential as a method of decreasing phytotoxicity and reducing the use of methyl bromide for environmental considerations.

SPREAD AND HARMFULNESS OF THE THRIPS TABACI LIND IN APPLE PLANTATIONS OF THE KRASNODAR TERRITORY

The results of daily phytosanitary monitoring of fruit plantations and literature data on biology, ecology, harmfulness of tobacco thrips (Thrips tabaci Lind.) are presented. In the apple agrocenoses of the Kuban and Black Sea zones of Krasnodar Territory, an increase in the harmfulness of representatives of the order Thysanoptera is observed. An increase in the number of tobacco thrips was noted, which led to a decrease in the quality of fruits. In the growing season of 2018, isolated symptoms of fruit damage by phytophagous were noted, in the growing season of 2019, fruit damage reached up to 2 %, in 2020 — 5-30 %. It was revealed that during the flowering period the number of T. tabaci Lind was 1-2 specimens per inflorescence; at the end of flowering, the amount of the pest increased by 5 times. High temperatures and lack of precipitation led to an outbreak of the pest population; in the first decade of June, 15 to 40 individuals were fixed per leaf. A high degree of damage to the tops of shoots, leaves and fruits was observed, the tissue in the feeding places of the pest was deformed, discolored, acquiring the appearance of whitish spots, which grew during the growth and ripening of fruits. It is known that the intensive development of thrips takes place in dry and hot years; the optimum temperature for the development of T. tabaci Lind is +25 °C. As a result of our monitoring, it was revealed that the maximum amount of the pest was observed during the period when high temperatures and low relative air humidity were noted — June and early July. The greatest number of the pest was found in areas bordering the fields of grain and tilled crops, while the number of phytophages at the time of registration reached 45 individuals per leaf and more. It should be noted that when the air temperature rises above +35 °C, the development of the phytophage stops, and the mortality rate of all stages sharply increases. To ensure a stable phytosanitary situation in fruit agrocenoses and prevent loss of fruit quality from damage by thrips, it is necessary to develop a set of measures to control the number of pests.

Improving Ceratitis capitata control through the mass trapping technique in an IPM programme on apricots in Tunisia

New techniques for Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann, 1824) control are being studied and developed to replace traditional organophosphate pesticide applications. A mass trapping strategy offers promising medfly control within integrated pest management (IPM) programmes. Field assays were performed to study the efficacy of two mass trapping techniques based on PheroNorm^® and Ceratrap^® lures that were compared to a conventional approach to control the medfly in Tunisian apricot orchards. The results showed that both mass trapping techniques had a similar efficiency in reducing the C. capitata population. The degrees Brix in the fruits was a determinant issue since the initial apricot fruit damage was detected at 6.4%. At harvesting, the lowest fruit damage rate was recorded in the PheroNorm^® (4.25%) and Ceratrap^® (6.50%) treated orchards, compared with the conventional approach (10.75%). Therefore, the use of 50 PheroNorm^® and Ceratrap^® traps per ha density within an IPM approach may be very useful to control the C. capitata populations in apricot orchards.

Design and Testing of a Pneumatic Oscillating Chinese Wolfberry Harvester

A pneumatic oscillating Chinese wolfberry harvester was designed to improve the efficiency of manual harvesting and minimize fruit damage by mechanical harvesting. The shedding model of Chinese wolfberry under pneumatic forces was established based on kinetic analysis, and the flow field characteristics were investigated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The position and shape of the fan outlet were determined by comparing the effects of a linear reduction outlet and a Laval reduction outlet on the outlet airflow rate. The size of the oscillating mechanism was optimized with nonlinear constraints to achieve uniform oscillation of the airflow. A three-factor, three-level orthogonal test was conducted on the NingQi 7 wolfberry variety. The flow rate at the outlet, the oscillation frequency, and the outlet distance were the test factors, and the net harvesting rate of ripe fruits, the harvesting rate of green fruits, and the damage rate of ripe fruits were the test indices. The results showed that the net harvesting rate of ripe fruits was 85.21% at an outlet distance of 10 cm, an outlet flow rate of 70 m·s−1, and an oscillation frequency of 2 Hz. This study provides references for the design of pneumatic harvesters for Chinese wolfberry.