Raising free-range chickens helps reduce fruit borers that damage citrus trees

During the survey and monitoring of the damage caused by fruit borers on citrus trees, we noted an additional measure to control this pest: raising free-range chickens in citrus orchards!

The biological characteristics of citrus fruit borers are that they live and cause damage in the fruit; however, when the 5th instar caterpillars are fully grown and ready to pupate, they become very active; the caterpillars crawl out of the fruit, fall to the ground and crawl to find a place with fine soil or decomposed organic matter to create a cocoon and pupate in; if they cannot find material to make a cocoon, the caterpillars pupate naked. Chickens raised in the garden can eat caterpillars that have not yet formed a cocoon and pupated, eat naked pupae and even eat newly emerged butterflies that have not yet flown onto the tree. This explains why gardens of a few hectares in size that are raised with dozens to hundreds of free-range chickens have a significantly lower rate of fruit borer damage compared to gardens that do not raise chickens in the garden, even though the cultivation conditions and fruit borer control are similar.

Households raising chickens in citrus gardens raise them by keeping them in cages at night and letting them roam free during the day to forage. When it is necessary to treat with pesticides, the chickens are locked up or moved to other gardens that have not been sprayed with pesticides. Raising free-range chickens can be considered one of the biological measures to control fruit borers that harm citrus trees that gardeners should apply when possible. In the current situation of citrus fruit borers, this is a solution that "kills two birds with one stone", both reducing damage caused by fruit borers and increasing income for gardeners.

According to science and technology - LY