Assiut J. of Agric. Sci., 42 (Special Issue )(The 5th Conference of Young Sci- entists Fac. of Agric. Assiut Univ. May,8, 2011) (461-467) Survey and Seasonal Fluctuations of Some Arthro- pod Species Infesting in Assiut Asmaa, M. Bedawy2; K.H. Abdel-Gawad1; N. A. Ali2 and S. A. Eraky1 1Plant Protection Dept., Fac. Agric., Assiut Univ., Egypt 2 Plant Protection Dept., Agric. Res. Center, Assiut/Egypt. Abstract and communities. They play vari- The present work was con- ous roles in ecosystems acting as ducted at the Faculty of Agricul- herbivores, predators, decompos- ture, Assuit University to study ers, parasitoids and pollinators. the pests infesting possess several char- field during June, 2009 acteristics that make them suit- to May, 2010. Five species of able for environmental monitor- harmful arthropods under five ing; high diversity, small body families and belonging to 4 dif- size, high reproductive capacity, ferent orders (Thysanoptera, acute sensitivity to environmental , Homoptera and changes and easily sampling Acari) were surveyed. The four (Weaver, 1995). Moreover, ar- species in addition to the thropods can be sampled quickly two-spotted mite were and reliably using various survey found as the most common and methods (New, 1998). Thus, they major pests of eggplant in upper are often used as biological indi- Egypt. The two-spotted spider cators of ecosystem integrity mite, Tetranychus urticae koch (Tscharntke et al., 1998) and was ranked as the first most im- could be used reliably to infer eco- portant arthropod infesting the system function and habitat condi- eggplant field, while the onion tion (McGeoch, 1998; Weisser thrips, Thrips tabaci Lindeman and Siemann, 2004). Population was ranked as the second one. ecologists discussed diversity of The effects of ambient tempera- arthropods in two aspects, spe- ture and relative humidity versus cies richness (i.e. the number of the pest densities during the species in a set of samples) and study seasons were also studied. equitability (e.g., the number of Key words: Arthropod biodiver- individuals of each species in a sity, eggplant pests, onion-thrips, sample) Disney, 1999. Brinjal, two-spotted spider mite Solanium melongena L., is one of Introduction the three most important vegeta- Arthropods are important bles in south Asia (India, Bangla- components of ecosystems occu- desh, Nepal and Srilanka), which pying vital positions in food accounts for almost 50% of the webs, dynamics of populations world's area under cultivation Received on: 10/4/2011 Accepted for publication on: 21/4/2011 Referees:Prof.Dr.Mohamed F.Abo-Ghader Prof.Dr.Mohamed A. Abdel-Naser Bedawy et al. 2011

(Alam et al., 2003). In the brinjal Direct account method was used field, various arthropod species to survey the arthropods infesting both pests and natural enemies eggplants. Samples of 20 leaflets prevail during seedling to harvest- were picked up randomly every ing stage. El-Shafie (2001) ob- two weeks from each plot and served 28 species of insect pests examined using sterio- under seven different insect orders microscope. Arthropods were from the brinjal ecosystem while classified into insect and mite Nayar et al. (1995) reported 53 fauna. Both and mite species of insect pests of brinjal. fauna were classified into fami- Although, several researchers lies and species and the percent- published reports on pest of age of each species was recorded. brinjal elsewhere however, in- On the other side the percentages formation about total arthropods of total insects and mites were community in the brinjal estimated monthly co-efficient agroecosystem is limited. and seasonally. The statistical In Egypt the cultivated area is analyses were estimated using 115.142 hectares from eggplant, simple correlation between the and the production is about seasonal population of the ar- 1.250.000 metric tons (Varmudy, thropods and the climatic factors 2011). The crop production was such as temperature and relative about 3.62% from the world pro- humidity. duction. The plants of family So- Result and Discussion lanaceae such as tomato, egg- Data in Table (1) show the plant and pepper are infested survey and identification of the with various types of arthropods pests infesting eggplant field in such as insect and mites. This the study area during 2009/2010 infestation causing serve damage seasons. Four insect species be- to the crops in addition to de- longing to three insect orders crease the feeding and marketing. were surveyed. These orders This study aimed to survey the were: Thysanoptera, (represent- pests infesting eggplant in Assiut ing by a single family: Thripi- and the seasonal abundance of dae); Homoptera, (representing some of arthropods during the by two families: Aleyrodidae years of 2009 – 2010. and Cicadellidae) and Hemiptera, Material and Methods (representing by a single family: The experiment was carried ). The insects infested out in the experimental farm of eggplants were: Thrips tabaci the Faculty of Agriculture – As- Lindeman, Bemisia tabaci Genn, siut University during Empoasca decipiens Paoli and 1 2009/2010. In this study /4 solani Heidemann. Fadden was divided into plots, The two-spotted spider mite, 1 each 3x3.5 sq meters. ( /400 Tetranychus urticae Koch was Fadden) and cultivated with egg- also surveyed as a key pest in- plant, during April 2009. festing eggplants in Assiut. Samples were taken from leaf of the eggplants as follows:

462 Assiut J. of Agric. Sci., 42 (Special Issue )(The 5th Conference of Young Sci- entists Fac. of Agric. Assiut Univ. May,8, 2011) (461-467)

Table (1): Survey of arthropods infesting eggplant, in Assiut, upper Egypt, during 2009/2010 Common Order Fam. Scientific name name Thrips tabaci Lin- Thysanoptera Thripidae Onion thrips deman Cotton - white- Bemisia tabaci Homoptera Aleyrodidae fly Genn. Empoasca de- Homoptera Cicadellidae Cotton - Jassid cipiens Paoli Gargaphia solani Hemiptera Tingidae Lace bug Heidemann Two-spotted Tetranychus urti- Acari Tetranychidae spider mite cae Koch

Data in Table (2) revealed the abundance of different pests (insects and mites) infesting eggplants. The study of the relative abundance showed that the single mite species was the first pest constituted about 63.98 % from the total population along the year, while the insect was 36.02 %. From the same Table the dis- showed the maximum population tribution of the insect population during spring season with 98.4% during seasons of the year from the total insect population showed that the cotton jassid, E. followed by that in winter season decipiens Paoli was ranked the with 8.5% from the insect popu- first of ranked 38.3%, followed lation. The least populations of by the onion thrips, T. tabaci the two species were observed Lindeman (29.0%) and the white- during summer and non were fly, B.tabaci Genn with 16.8%, encountered during autumn. the least species was the lace bug The whitefly B. tabaci Genn G. solani Heidemann with was recorded with maximum 15.9%. The cotton jassid gave population during winter season maximum population during (57.6%) total insect population summer season with 60.3% from followed by autumn then sum- total insect followed by winter mer. On the other side, lace bug, (33.09%) then autumn (11.7%), G.solani Heidemann showed dif- the cotton jassid disappeared ferences in its appearance. It was from eggplant leaf during spring appeared only, during summer season, this may be due mainly to season with 29.3% and disap- the intermigration of this species peared during the three other sea- from eggplant to another host. sons of the year. The population of onion Gene