Problems and trends in plant protection

Hristina Kutinkova, Veselin Arnaudov, Zarya Rankova, Vasiliy Dzhuvinov

Abstract: In this survey a historical development of control of diseases and pests as well as of weeds in fruit orchards of Bulgaria from the 70’s of the 20th century till the first decade of the 21th century was presented. In this connection conventional control, integrated and first steps of biological control of spider mites and fruit moths on main fruit species in our country has been discussed. Special attention has been paid to the research carried out at the Fruit Growing Institute – on different aspects of biology and ecology of economically important fruit pests as well as to the possibilities of controlling their population density through agro-technical, chemical, biological and other methods. Appearance of resistance of codling moth to some pesticides used presented a serious challenge in fruit plant protection and was a subject of specific studies. Economical and technical problems appearing in fruit plant protection after restitution of orchards to the former owners were also commented. Efficacy and selectivity of some soil and leaf herbicides in nurseries as well as in young and bearing fruit orchards has been tested. Possibilities of introduction of herbicides into the systems of micro-irrigation was investigated, studies have made about indirect harm of weeds.

Keywords: biological control; fruit moths; integrated plant protection; predatory mites; weed control

Date published: 2017-07-07