Historical document
The integrated management of Kelly's citrus thrips (CT00015)
Publication date: June 1, 2004
Delivery Partner: SA Research & Development Institute (SARDI0
This is a final research report from Hort Innovation’s historical archives. Please note that as these reports may date back as far as the 1990s, the content and recommendations within them may be superseded by more recent research.
Kelly’s citrus thrips (KCT) was the key pest of citrus in the Riverland-Sunraysia (R-S) region. The scurfing and rind bleaching that resulted from KCT feeding reduced fruit quality, thereby reducing the packout of export quality fruit and rendering some fruit unsaleable.
The management of KCT was restricted to the use of foliar insecticides at the time. Building on the foundations laid in project CT97007, this new project aimed to expand the insecticidal and biological control options available for KCT control, and to start to integrate and optimise these control options.
The key outcomes were:
Future R&D was required to develop an effective insecticide resistance management (IRM) strategy, to field trial several new insecticidal controls, and to enhance KCT biocontrol in citrus orchards.
The researcher recommended that citrus growers should ensure correct thrips identification, frequent monitoring from petal fall to Christmas, accurate spray timing and good spray coverage to get good control of KCT. If poor spray efficacy occured, and coverage was deemed to have been good, a sample of KCT should be tested for insecticide resistance. They also recommended that the citrus industry should encourage Syngenta and Dow Agrosciences to swiftly advance the registration applications of new chemistry for KCT control, devise and implement an IRM ‘rotation’ strategy, and support endeavours to further enhance KCT biocontrol.
This historical project was a strategic levy investment in the Hort Innovation Citrus Fund
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