Arthropods on Azadirachta indica A. Juss. (Sapindales: Meliaceae) saplings

• Autor(a) principal: Germano Leão Demolin Leite
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFMG
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.263551; http://hdl.handle.net/1843/61350
• topic: Entomologia; Pesticidas; Pragas agrícolas

Azadirachta indica A. Juss. (Sapindales: Meliaceae) is used to control erosion due to its drought resistance and well-developed root system capable of extracting nutrients from lower soil levels. Applying neem extract directly to the crops as a pesticide (high toxicity to insects, feeding deterrent, and/or repellent effects) can be an effective agricultural practice due to its main compound: azadirachtin (Amaral et al., 2019). Few insects’ pests damage A. indica like as Atta sexdens rubropilosa Forel, 1908 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) (Souza et al., 2009). The Importance Indice (I.I.) can determine the loss and solution sources for a system in certain knowledge areas (e.g., agronomy), when production is known (Demolin-Leite, 2021). Events (e.g., agricultural pest) can have different magnitudes (numerical measurements), frequencies, and distributions (aggregate, random, or regular) of event occurrence, and I.I. bases in this triplet (Demolin-Leite, 2021). In general, the higher the magnitude and frequency, with aggregated distribution, the greater the problem or solution (e.g., natural enemies versus pests) for the system (Demolin-Leite, 2021). However, the final production of the system is not always known or is difficult to determine (e.g., degraded area recovery). A derivation of the I.I. is the Percentage of Importance Index-Production Unknown (% I.I.-PU) that can detect the loss or solution sources when production in the system is unknown (Demolin-Leite, 2024a). The % I.I.-PU can detect the most important phytophagous arthropods and their natural enemies by observing their ability to damage the plants (phytophagous) or reduce the herbivore (natural enemies), their constancies and types of distribution on the samples (e.g., aggregate) (Demolin-Leite, 2024a). The study aimed to evaluate the numbers and damages of herbivorous insects and their natural enemies on A. indica saplings using % I.I.-PU.