Abstract

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Thrips (Thripsspp), whitefly (Bemisiaspp) and leaf miners (Liriomyzaspp) are among the major serious pests of herbs growing in Hawassa Greenhouse Mark. Development of alternative management methods for agriculturally important insect pests is needed due to the adverse effect of pesticides to human health and the environment. The objective of the present study is to evaluate the effectiveness of natural essential oils added to sticky traps to increasing the trapping efficiency of the sticky traps to manage leaf miner, thrips and whitefly on green basil (Ocimumbasilicum L.),chives (Allium schoenoprasumL.) and tarragon(Artemisia dracunculus) in green houses. The experiment was conducted concurrently for green basil, chives and tarragon grown in the greenhouses in an area of 0.67 ha wide. Nine sticky traps and six natural essential oils were used in four cycles within two months interval and replicated three times, arranged in randomize complete block design. Variation in each treatment was analyzed using ANOVA and LSD at P < 0.05 was used to separate the means. The results showed that yellow sticky traps that were coated with the essential oils were more effective in attracting the three pests than uncoated sticky traps in greenhouse. Higher number leaf miners were attracted by sticky traps coated with lavender oil, lemon oil and castor oil. Higher number of whiteflies and thrips were attracted bylavender oil and basil oil coated yellow sticky traps, respectively. Therefore, using yellow sticky traps with natural essential oils reduced the pest population and also contributed in the management. The approach produced useful information for integrated pest management strategy and also to determine the threshold level for control options to be employed. Thus information generated will be useful to help growers in making management decisions against the underlying insect pests on green basil, chives and tarragon at Hawassa greenhouse mark herbs.

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