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ABSTRACTEctomyelois ceratoniae(Zeller) is a cosmopolitan pest that affects many crops worldwide. The present study was performed to refine our knowledge about density and damage of this pest on Navel oranges in northern Tunisia and to evaluate the effectiveness of four alternative methods including, cultural control, mass trapping, Trichogramma cacoeciae(Marchal) releases and mating disruption. Results showed that E. ceratoniaepopulations increased from April to November. All trials were effective in decreasing E. ceratoniaepopulations on citrus fruits. The most effective management was mating disruption combined with T. cacoeciaerelease (30,000 Trichogramms/ha), with a reduction rate of E. ceratoniaeof 62.8% after treatment. Mass trapping using delta traps combined with Trichogrammareleases (25,000 T/ha) may be a promising alternative for limiting E. ceratoniaepopulations. It has also been shown that a density of 10 delta traps/ha can reduce the infestation rate of E. ceratoniae. Furthermore, control by successive T. cacoeciaereleases at a density of 20,000 T/ha shows its effectiveness. Our results for improving management of E. ceratoniaein citrus orchards are highlighted and discussed herein.

Gortyna xanthenes(Germar) and Depressaria erinaceella(Staudinger) are key pests of artichoke in Tunisia causing major losses. To this end, a 2-year field survey was carried out in order to assess possible damage caused by these two pests. The results showed that serious attacks were found on artichoke flower heads ranging from 17 to 26% and from 7 to 10% for D. erinaceellaand G. xanthenes, respectively. On stems, damages caused by G. xanthenesmay exceed 60%. Measures of the length of the larva and the width of head capsule in the laboratory showed the presence of six and seven instar larvae for G. xanthenesand D. erinaceella, respectively. These results could be very useful to develop effective management tools against artichoke pests in Tunisia.

Since its first detection in Tunisia in 2008, the tomato pinworm, Tuta absoluta,has become a serious problem to tomato crops by causing heavy yield losses. The aim of this work was to evaluate the efficacy of some actives ingredients, commonly used by Tunisian farmers, under laboratory and greenhouse conditions in controlling T. absolutalarvae. We also tested the role of mass trapping as control method for T. absolutawhile performing two greenhouse trials: one to test the most effective number of pheromone traps to be used and the second evaluating the combination of insecticides and pheromone traps. Our study demonstrated that the product combining abamectin and chlorantraniliprole was the most effective 2 h after the treatment in laboratory trials. Moreover, this study indicated that the dose of two sex pheromone traps/greenhouse was the most effective compared to the other tested dose. Also, mass trapping alone (2 sex pheromone traps/greenhouse) was not effective in reducing larval populations: flubendiamid and cyromazin caused 96 and 77% larval mortality, respectively.

The names of the varieties cultivated in the two study regions were given wrongly in the Materials and Methods section. The correct names are as follows.