Skip to main content
ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Parlier, California » San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center » Commodity Protection and Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #167054

Title: QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF INSECT PEST DAMAGE TO FIGS

Author
item Burks, Charles - Chuck
item Brandl, David

Submitted to: Crop Management at www.cropmanagement.org
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/20/2005
Publication Date: 5/10/2005
Citation: Burks, C.S., Brandl, D.G. 2005. Quantitative assessment of insect pest damage to figs. Crop Management [serial online]. Available: http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/pub/cm/research/2005/figs/

Interpretive Summary: While past work has listed insect pests associated with figs in California, the proportion of damage caused by different pests has not been described quantitatively. As broad spectrum insecticides have been replaced by less toxic but more species-specific pest management methods, this information has become more important. We took harvest samples from three orchards in 2002 and four in 2003 and identified the insect pests responsible for defects among the samples, and present here the diagnostic characters of damage to figs by common insect pests. Nitidulid beetles and the navel orangeworm together usually accounted for >90% of growers' losses to insect infestation. Usually losses from nitidulid beetles exceeded those from navel orangeworm, although this varied with location and year. Growers will benefit from using the characteristics presented here to determine which of the key pests are prevalent in their locations, and then planning their insect pest management accordingly

Technical Abstract: Previous researchers have listed insect pests associated with figs in California, but the proportion of damage caused by different pests has not been described quantitatively. As broad spectrum insecticides have been replaced by less toxic but more species-specific pest management methods, this information has become more important. We took harvest samples from three orchards in 2002 and four in 2003 and identified the insect pests responsible for defects among the samples. We present in this paper the diagnostic characters of damage to figs by common insect pests. Nitidulid beetles and the navel orangeworm together usually accounted for >90% of growers' losses to insect infestation. Usually losses from nitidulid beetles exceeded those from navel orangeworm, although this varied with location and year.