International journal of Horticulture, Agriculture and Food science(IJHAF) Vol-4, Issue-3, May-Jun, 2020 Open Access https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijhaf.4.3.4 ISSN: 2456-8635 Examining the spatial distribution pattern and optimum sample size for monitoring of the white mango scale insect, Aulacaspis tubercularis (Newstead) (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) on certain mango cultivars Moustafa M S Bakry1 and Nagdy F Abdel-Baky2* 1Scale Insects and Mealybugs Research Dept., Plant Protection Research Institute, A.R.C, Dokii, Giza, Egypt.
[email protected] 2Economic Entomology Dept., Fac. Agric., Mansoura University, Mansoura-35516 Egypt. *Department of Plant Production and Protection, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Qassim University, P.O. Box 6622, Buraidah 51452, Qassim, Saudi Arabia.
[email protected] Abstract— The white mango scale insect, Aulacaspis tubercularis (Newstead) (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) is one of the most destructive pests of mango trees in Egypt. The main objective of the present work is to estimate the spatial distribution pattern and minimum sample size for monitoring populations of A. tubercularis on six different cultivars of mango through the two successive years of 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 at Esna district, Luxor Governorate, Egypt. Data on the indices of distribution and Taylor’s and Iwao’s regression analyses indicate significant aggregation behaviour during each year in all the tested cultivars of mango trees, that may be caused by environmental heterogeneity. The regression models of Taylor’s power law (b) and Iwao’s patchiness (β) were both significantly >1, indicating that A. tubercularis had an aggregation distribution with a negative binomial distribution during each year in all the tested mango cultivars.