Horticultural Studies (HortiS)     (Pages: 106-115)

Effect of Kaolin Combined with Mineral Oil on the Field Control of the Citrus Butterfly Papilio demoleus (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae)

Atefeh Asadnia CHOOBBASTI 1 ,Mohammad Reza DAMAVANDIAN 1 ,Behnam Amiri BESHELI 1

1 Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Crops Sciences Faculty, Plant Protection Department, 48181-68984, Sari, Iran DOI : 10.16882/HortiS.1823566 Viewed : 18 - Downloaded : 10 The citrus butterfly (Papilio demoleus Linnaeus) is one of the most destructive pests of citrus orchards in Iran, particularly in Mazandaran Province. Due to environmental and ecological concerns associated with chemical insecticides, alternative and eco-friendly pest control strategies are urgently needed. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of kaolin and mineral oil, individually and in combination, in comparision with the chemical insecticide abamectin, for the control of P. demoleus under field conditions. Two separate experiments were conducted on two-year-old Hashimoto satsuma mandarin trees. The first experiment tested five treatments in a completely randomized design (CRD), including mineral oil (1%), kaolin (3% and 6%) + mineral oil (0.5%), abamectin (0.5%), and an untreated control. The second experiment evaluated three treatments-kaolin (6%) + mineral oil (0.5%), abamectin (0.5%), and control-across five tree groups. The results showed that the combination of 6% kaolin + 0.5% mineral oil was the most effective treatment, significantly reducing the number of eggs and larvae of P. demoleus while increasing the number of buds and healthy leaves with compared to the untreated control. In some cases, this combination performed comparably to, or even better than, abamectin, particularly in reducing larval density. Across both experiments, the treatment demonstrated strong pest control performance attributed to the synergistic effect of the two mineral-based components. These findings suggest that the combined use of kaolin and mineral oil provides a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to conventional chemical insecticides and should be considered as part of integrated pest management (IPM) strategies for citrus production. Keywords : Insecticides Integrated pest management Orchards Pest control Satsuma mandarin