Effects of liquid soap and dish washing detergent on the common pistachio psyllid, Agonoscena pistaciae ( Hem.: Aphalaridae) and the lady bug, Oenopia conglobata(Col.: Coccinellidae)

The common pistachio psyllid, Agonoscena pistaciae Burckhardt and Lauterer (Hemiptera: Aphalaridae) is known as the key pest of pistachio trees in Iran. This study was carried out to test the effect of liquid soap (Jonobgan®) and dish washing detergent (Rika®) against this pest and their side effects on the lady bug, Oenopia conglobata L.(Col.: Coccinellidae). The field experiments was done with three treatments and three replications. The concentrations of treatments were applied as 3500 ppm for each treatment and control (water).  The mean percent mortality of nymphs of the common pistachio psyllid for liquid soap on 3, 8, 14, and 21 days after treatment was 98.92, 60.74, 27.90  and 18.54 respectively, and for dish washing detergent, was 91.17, 82.46, 69.11 and 48.20, respectively. The results showed no significant difference between the percent mortality of common pistachio psyllid nymph between liquid soap and dish washing detergent after 8 and 21 days but significant after 3 and 14 days. The results also showed that the effect of treatments on the first and third instar larvae of O. conglobata was not significant 24, 48, and 72 hours after treatments. Therefore these treatments have no side effects on O. conglobata. It is concluded that the liquid soap and dish washing detergent can be used in IPM program to control the common pistachio psyllid.