A Survey On the Insect Pests Of Orange (Citrus Rutaceae) In Some Selected Plots in Abia State:- Nwakanma, Ezinne C

Abstract A study on the insect st of " pest o citrus plants was conducted from »e month of June 2006 to August 2006 in tW of All 8 in two towns Ol O° State[Bcndeand Umudike1. Two methods were used to get at the insects; the knock down / jarring and handpicking methods Culture of immature stages was also carried out. Species of insect encountered include; Zonocerus variegatus, Toxoptera aurantii, Papilio demudocus, Aleurocanthus jloccosus, blattella asahina, Aleurocanthus spp, Achaea /ienardi, Oecophylla longinoda, Pseudococcus adonitum, and Phyllocnistis citrella. J aurantii [citrus aphid 1 has the highest occurrence in all the orchard visited with the percentage of [94.3%,95.0%,92.0% and 93.1%] respectively. In Ben de citrus orchard P de'modoCUs . was second in . . abundance with the percentage of [ 5.4%]. While in Umudike sites Z variegatus was second in abundance with percentage of{3.8%,S.0%, and 5.2%1respectivelY- ·T aurantii and z variegatus were the major insect pest of citrus in Umudike town, while T aurantii a0 P demodocus were the major pest of citrus in Bende town. the infestation of these insect pest me