Applying pest management techniques in Nghe An orange growing areas

Nghe An has a total orange growing area of ​​up to 5,589 hectares, with many large concentrated growing areas. However, in recent years, many harmful diseases have appeared on orange trees, affecting the productivity and quality of the fruit.

In particular, the phenomenon of orange blight and yellow leaf and fruit drop diseases cause serious damage mainly on 8-10 year old orange trees, leading to poor growth and development, low fruit quality and productivity.

The phenomenon of oranges turning yellow and leaves falling off, and fruit falling off has affected nearly 700 hectares of orange growing areas in the province in the past 2 years (2017 - 2018). Photo: Phu Nam

In early 2018, the integrated pest management (IPM) and integrated nutrient management (ICM) models were applied on orange trees of 30 farming households in Minh Ho hamlet (Minh Hop, Quy Hop).

The selected orange orchards are all between 8 and 10 years old and are experiencing symptoms of orange blight, root rot, yellow leaves, and fruit drop in 2017. During that process, the relevant departments took soil samples to analyze indicators of pests and nutrients in the soil to promptly supplement the trees. At the same time, a safe orange production process was established through the stages of soil preparation, fertilizer, care techniques, pruning, canopy creation, root cover, etc.

During the implementation of the model, people were trained and instructed on the physiology of orange trees and how to prevent and control pests through the stages of development. Along with that are the technical steps of care, investigation, and analysis of the orange garden ecosystem with the aim of helping people have comprehensive knowledge to better manage the orange garden.

The integrated pest and nutrition management model on orange trees has initially shown positive results in terms of productivity and fruit quality. Photo: Phu Nam

After nearly 1 year of implementation, 169 orange trees applied new techniques with timely investment in nutrition and pest management have grown and developed well. The yield reached over 15 tons/ha, about 5 tons/ha higher than traditional orange gardens.

From the initial success, the integrated pest and nutrition management model on orange trees has changed the perception of how to apply the process of growing and caring for oranges in a safe and sustainable way, contributing to restoring the productivity and quality of the specialty brand "Vinh orange".