Landscape Vegetation Productivity Influences Population Dynamics of Key Pests in Small Avocado Farms in Kenya.

ABSTRACT: Avocado (Persea americana Mill.) production contributes to the economic growth of East Africa. However, poor fruit quality caused by infestations of tephritid fruit flies (Tephritidae) and the false codling moth, Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Meyrick), hampers access to lucrative export markets. Remote sensing and spatial analysis are increasingly applied to crop pest studies to develop sustainable and cost-effective control strategies. In this study, we assessed pest abundance in Muranga, Kenya, across three vegetation productivity classes, viz., low, medium and high, which were estimated using the normalised difference vegetation index at a landscape scale. Population densities of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) and T. leucotreta in avocado farms were estimated through s

SUBMITTER: Toukem NK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7412565 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature