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Economic Importance

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Mealybugs and their Management in Agricultural and Horticultural crops

Abstract

Mealybugs cause considerable negative economic impact on a wide range of crop plants. A high population of mealybug can lead to: fruit, flower/leaf drop, fruit/flower deformation and development of discoloured welts on the rind of the fruit, flower etc. They spread between continents through international trade. In the last 30 years, there have been several major outbreaks of mealybugs causing alarming damage to crops, as a result of invasion/accidental introductions. Losses and costs of controlling mealybugs in USA at several million dollars. In New Zealand, mealybugs are frequently occurring pests of horticultural crops causing serious economic losses in the country. In France, scale insects, including mealybugs, represent 31% of newly introduced species in recent years, although all mealybug pests on grapevine are native. Likewise in many countries, there were serious economic losses caused by mealybugs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore, 560089, India

    M. Mani & C. Shivaraju

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  1. M. Mani
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Correspondence to M. Mani .

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  1. of Horticultural Research, Indian Institute, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

    M. Mani

  2. Indian Institute of Horticultural Resear, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

    C. Shivaraju

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Mani, M., Shivaraju, C. (2016). Economic Importance. In: Mani, M., Shivaraju, C. (eds) Mealybugs and their Management in Agricultural and Horticultural crops . Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2677-2_11

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